Mighty Ducks All Over Again
by princess-sunshine2003
Summary: My spin on the later two MD movies. Follows the story lines with a few twists and turns and a new main character. Angst, and drama. It's all just a bunch of kids having fun, right?
1. Characters and Author Note

A/N: I know my storylines get a little complicated, even with following the movies, because I have so many new faces. I thought you might like to know what all the characters were about.  
  
New Characters:  
  
Maurae Grabeklis- she's new to Team USA and the Duck universe. And  
yes, I know that a hockey team is thirteen; for my purposes, I'm  
kicking that rule, so deal with it. She's a good person, so you can  
like her or not.  
  
Leon Grabeklis- Maurae's older brother, three years her senior. He's  
a soccer star, and hates the fact that she's not living at home  
anymore. Overprotective, he growls, his bark is worse than his bite.  
  
Justin Grabeklis- Maurae's younger brother, two years her junior.  
He's a gymnast and learning martial arts, and also hates the fact that  
she's never home. He, too, is overprotective, but she doesn't mind it  
in him so much. His bite is poisonous.  
  
Carrie Martin- you won't meet her until Eden Hall; she's Maurae's  
lesbian roommate, who has (I know) some telekinetic powers (give me a  
break, I was watching the X-Men movies when I dreamed her up), and  
she's one of Maurae's three best friends.  
  
So, fundamentally, this story follows D2 and D3 basic storylines,  
maybe skipping a few of the lesser games and inserting scenes which  
are sort of like 'behind-the-scenes' sort of things. I will play with  
characters, and if you don't like the idea of Jesse Hall being gay,  
don't read it. That's all I have to say.  
  
Hope you enjoy, and I hope this helps you to keep people straight.  
No, they don't randomly pop out of the walls. Yet. 


	2. Games and Meetings

"Games and Meetings"  
  
As if life wasn't complicated for the twelve year-old middle child of the Grabeklis family. The only girl in her family (besides her mom) and the only girl on her league hockey team, she was used to being around boys. She was also used to proving herself to them, and even then, not being accepted entirely.  
  
When her coach asked her to come to the rink on that Saturday for a special practice, she obeyed without thinking, assuming that everyone would be there. Which is why she was shocked when she got there to find no one else present except her coach. Her older brother and her mom went to sit in the stands to wait for her to be done, as they usually did.  
  
She changed slowly, thinking hard, and finally skated out to center ice, to be met a few minutes later by Coach Nelson and another man she'd never seen before. The latter was obviously not a hockey player because he wore shoes on the ice, and was dressed in light clothes.  
  
"Maurae, this is Don Tibbles. He works for Hendrix Hockey, our sponsors. He wants to see you play a bit with me."  
  
She shrugged in response. "Sure, Coach," she said amicably, pulling down the face guard on her helmet and retrieving her stick from the bench.  
  
It all passed in a blur. She played her best, giving it one thousand percent, as she always did, whether practice, game or play. After about thirty minutes of it, Tibbles called a halt and pulled Nelson aside to speak with him while Maurae went over to the bench to grab a drink of water. Soon enough the two men came over to her.  
  
"Maurae, how would you like to play for Team USA at the Junior Goodwill Games this year?" For a minute, she thought he was joking and laughed. Then she realized that he was dead serious.  
  
"You-you're not kidding? You want me to play for Team USA?"  
  
"That's right. Two weeks ago, Don called me to ask me if I would choose a player, the best on my team, for an audition of sorts."  
  
"Me?"  
  
"You have the skill, the determination, and the attitude. My son doesn't have the attitude, and so I chose you," Nelson said, knowing that she was thinking that Ryan Nelson was the best on the team.  
  
"Thanks, Coach. But...I've got to talk to my parents, and Mom will want to think it through..." Nelson was already waving her mother down from the stands. As soon as the older woman entered the box, Maurae jumped up. "Mom, they want me to play for the national team!" she cried. Leon's eyes widened in surprise, as did her mother's.  
  
"The national team? I assume that means these Junior Goodwill Games you've been on about for three weeks," Leon said, sitting next to her on the bench, his eyes proud. She nodded eagerly.  
  
"Can I, Mom? Please, can I?"  
  
"Maurae..."  
  
"There are four weeks left before I would need Maurae at the training camp," Tibbles said. "I know it's a tough decision."  
  
"The decision is clear, in my mind, at least. But I'll have to at least check with my husband," Maureen said, seeing the happiness on her daughter's face at the opportunity that was being offered. "Also, we'll need details; how much it will cost, how long, where she'll be. Things like that."  
  
"Oh, there is no charge. We'll be taking care of all the expenses. And she will spend about a month in training in Minnesota, getting used to the rest of the team, before they fly out to Los Angeles for about three or four months, depending on how well the tournament goes."  
  
"I'll speak with Lauris tonight, and get back to Coach Nelson as soon as I can," Maureen said. Maurae silently cheered. She grinned.  
  
"Go ahead and change, Maurae. I expect you at regular practice tomorrow," Nelson said, smiling at his center forward. She grinned and rushed off to do as she was told.  
  
The wait was agonizing. She'd been lying on Leon's bed, staring at the TV where one of her brothers was trying to beat up the other in some video game or other. "What do you think the rest of the team will be like?" she asked. Leon swung around to look at her, pausing the game.  
  
"That's the fourth time you've asked me a question I have no way of answering," he commented. "Don't worry, princess. Mom will talk him around if he disagrees." She sighed.  
  
"I know. I just-" She bit off the rest of her sentence as the door opened, admitting her parents. "Mom, Dad."  
  
"I'm glad you three are getting along for once," her father commented, smiling. He came over and sat on the bed next to Maurae. Maureen leaned against the bunk beds her younger children shared and struggled to hide her smile. "Maurae, we've decided to let you go." He paused, but she didn't say anything. "You'll leave in a few days, and I have Don Tibbles' word that he will look after you."  
  
Then she screamed and threw her arms around him, leaping up to do the same to her mother before racing from the room. She was gone only a moment before she reappeared, lugging a suitcase, which she tossed onto her neatly made bed.  
  
Maureen grabbed her arm. "Slow down, princess. You have time. Besides, you'll need some new things. You and I are going shopping tomorrow. Coach Nelson has excused you from practice, since you've decided to go." Maurae took a deep breath and smiled.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"Pack your essentials tonight, honey," her father said as the parentals left the room. Maurae nodded and began packing underwear and socks. She had a list of what to pack, but since she was going to be there longer, she had to pack more personal clothing than they said to.  
  
She didn't sleep at all that night, and was up before sunrise for the first time in her life. Leon chucked a pillow at her when she came bustling out of the bathroom, fully dressed.  
  
"Go back to bed, psycho. It's four thirty."  
  
"Can't sleep," she replied cheerfully, tossing the pillow back at him before leaving the room. She went downstairs and poured herself a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice. Once she finished and cleaned off the dishes, she decided that she needed to settle down. So she went back to her room and brushed her teeth and hair, and grabbed her reading book, taking it down to the living room in order to avoid disturbing anyone else.  
  
And at eight forty-two, that's where Leon found her, curled up on the overstuffed armchair, sleeping peacefully. He grinned and covered her up, continuing on to the kitchen to greet his parents and youngest sibling.  
  
"Where's your sister?" Maureen asked. "I wanted to get an early start."  
  
Grinning, he replied, "Sleeping in the armchair. She was bouncing around in her bed last night, and finally gave up on sleep at about four this morning." They all heard a groan from the living room.  
  
"Why didn't somebody wake me up?" she asked. "I didn't realize it was this late."  
  
"Not late. Go brush your hair, and we'll leave." The whole family watched in amusement as Maurae trotted out of the room at high speed to do as she'd been told. A few minutes later, she came back in with her purse. "Okay, let's go."  
  
Neither Maurae nor her mother enjoyed shopping, and they always tried to get it over with as fast as possible. But this time was different. Since she wasn't going to see her child for almost six months, Maureen was determined to spend the whole day with her.  
  
They first went shopping for some clothes, both for the slightly chilly weather in Minnesota and also for the warmer weather of southern California. That took them several hours, and then they went to Red Lobster for lunch. After that, they bought Maurae a camera, a long- distance phone card, and plenty of stationery and stamps.  
  
By the time they stumbled back into the house, the day had turned dark. Maurae went back up to her room and packed all her new acquisitions into the suitcase.  
  
Don Tibbles met them at the airport and took charge of Maurae. The plane ride was relatively short, and a few hours later, she stepped off it. "Now, Maurae. Since you're here so early, I decided to ask some of the in- state team members if they could house you. You'll be spending the next few weeks with Adam Banks, at his home in Edina."  
  
"Okay."  
  
"There he is now. Come on." Maurae followed him, wheeling her suitcase behind her, over to where a boy her own age was sitting with his family. She stared at the ground while Don spoke with the boy's parents. "All right, then. Maurae, this is Mr. and Mrs. Banks. That is their older son Daniel and their younger Adam." Maurae nodded and smiled politely. Don squeezed her shoulder and departed.  
  
"Well, Maurae. It is certainly nice to have you, isn't it, boys?"  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
"Yes." Maurae sized up Adam.  
  
"Are there any other girls on the team?" she asked frankly. He looked up, blue eyes actually meeting hers for the first time. He smiled.  
  
"Connie. You might like her. I don't know if you're the only girl on the newbies list or not, but you might not be. What position do you play?"  
  
"Center forward. Though I could play left or right as well," she replied honestly. Philip Banks watched in amusement as his youngest son completely forgot his usual reticence and opened up to the girl. He listened to their hockey chatter for a moment before interrupting.  
  
"Continue this in the car, kids. We have to go. Is that all your luggage, Maurae?"  
  
"Yes, sir. I..I can do my own laundry, so I don't usually pack much."  
  
"Nonsense," Kelly Banks replied. "We have someone who will do the laundry for you. Come on." Daniel took possession of her suitcase for her and she walked along with Adam, still discussing their favorite topic, hockey. It wasn't going to be such a long time after all.  
  
...to be continued. 


	3. Teams and Dreams

A/N: To my lovely reviewer:  
  
[Hotashell99]: Thank you. I'm having a little trouble with time management, but here's chapter two. Sorry it's so short, and for the cliffhanger. I'll try to update more, but it may be a day or two. Finals are coming up. So please don't hate me if my updating speed kind of...dies.  
  
"Teams and Dreams"  
  
A new bed, a new house, and she couldn't hear anything. At home, Leon's snores and Justin talking in his sleep used to put her to sleep, oddly enough. Now, there was nothing but silence. She was exhausted and she couldn't sleep.  
  
She rolled over and found the fat pillow that she'd tossed down to the end of the bed earlier. She hugged it to her chest and sighed, feeling slightly better.  
  
Maurae had her stick in her hand and was skating fast around the rink, wishing she was home. The only person she knew was Adam, and that was only because she was living at his house until they left for California. She sighed. Two months would go by slowly, despite the quick friendship she'd formed upon meeting her host and his family. That was two days ago.  
  
He was going to introduce her to his friends tomorrow, after he finished school. She sighed and sat down on the ice, leaning against the boards. She hated changes, and as excited as she was to play for Team USA, she didn't know if she could handle half a year away from her family.  
  
"Why so glum, chum?" asked a familiar voice, with that familiar expression. She looked up to find her older brother looking down at her.  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
"Somebody thinks you need encouragement, princess. Remember, you can do this. Mom would never have tried to convince Dad to let you go if she didn't think you can handle it. Believe it, sweetheart."  
  
"But how are you here?"  
  
"You're dreaming, silly."  
  
She was smiling in her sleep, and Adam was loath to shake her awake. He knew she hadn't been sleeping well, and he didn't want to disturb her, but it was almost ten.  
  
He was saved from making a decision when she blinked at him. "Good morning," she said, sitting up, still hugging the pillow.  
  
"Morning. Come on. I was going to take you to the rink today, remember?" He smiled and left the room to let her get dressed. She got up and threw on a pair of jeans and a shirt. Then she expertly made her bed, more out of habit than anything else, and ran downstairs with socks in hand. As she'd been instructed, she'd brought both her ice skates and her roller blades. She put her tennis shoes in her messenger bag, and pulled on her socks and blades, followed by pads. Adam was already skating circles on the driveway, waiting for her. She raced out the door.  
  
"Where are we going?"  
  
"A little street court downtown. My friends are going to meet us there. Come on." He skated off with her following slightly to one side. They made good time, racing each other to the ends of streets, turning in sync. It only took them about a half hour to reach the rink Adam wanted. It was crowded by twelve others that Adam seemed to know. Maurae remembered that five of the original thirteen Ducks wouldn't be playing for Team USA, making room for it to really be Team USA instead of just Team Minnesota. "Come on, Maurae, they won't hurt you." Then she realized that she'd stayed outside the chain link fence, staring, while Adam had gone in and greeted his friends.  
  
"You're late, cake-eater," commented the black boy she recognized as Jesse Hall from the literature she'd been given.  
  
"Had to wait for her to wake up," Adam replied, indicating Maurae with his thumb. "Get in here!"  
  
She obeyed, stopping just shy of the court itself. "Are you any good?" asked a mop-headed brunette she thought was either Charlie Conway or Guy Germaine.  
  
"You might say that," she replied, a smile forming on her face. Adam was already grinning. "You want to help me out, here, Adam?" she asked.  
  
"Nah. These skeptics don't believe it until they see it," he replied, eyes sparkling. She shook her head at him and skated a little bit forward.  
  
"I was the best on my team back home," she said, shrugging, slightly embarrassed.  
  
"Right. Well, let's see what you've got, newbie," Charlie said. She was now positive that the brunet was indeed the Ducks' captain. Maurae lifted an eyebrow and acquired a somewhat feral grin.  
  
"Bring it on, Captain Duck," she retorted. She shucked her bag to the side of the court and gripped her stick in padded palms. Adam was backing up, grinning at his teammate, thinking the boy was about to get what was coming to him. Sure enough, Maurae easily captured the faceoff and proceeded to dance around most of the team to score, completely unassisted.  
  
Jesse stared, Charlie gaped. Connie, the only other girl, clapped her on the shoulder with a friendly smile. And Adam only smiled smugly. "So, did I pass inspection?" she teased. "Or was it initiation," she added, smirking. Charlie grinned sheepishly and held out his hand.  
  
"Charlie Conway."  
  
"Nice to meet you. I'm Maurae."  
  
"No last name?"  
  
"You don't want my last name, believe me." She smiled and introduced herself to the whole team. Names and faces flashed in front of her, and she struggled to remember every one. Connie was easy, as the only girl. Jesse was the only black kid, she was living with Adam, and Fulton was the biggest, towering over her 4'10". Les Averman was the only redhead, Greg Goldberg was the chubby one, and Guy Germaine was the pale blond boy with a shy smile and a severe attraction to Connie.  
  
She quickly forgot most of the other names, except for the notable exception of Terry Hall, Jesse's younger brother. It was an interesting first team meeting, and Maurae found herself relaxing and enjoying Minnesota for the first time. The fourteen of them divided up to play a friendly game; she and Adam were not allowed to be on the same side. In fact, Maurae was placed with the five she wouldn't have to remember and Goldberg.  
  
They won anyway, by two. Maurae and Adam left the rink at almost five, waving goodbye to the others with huge smiles on their faces. They took a more leisurely pace back to Adam's house, and arrived at nearly six, shucking their skates by the front door.  
  
"Mom, we're home!" Adam shouted before turning back to her. "So, how did you like them?"  
  
"Interesting and diverse, is all I can say," she replied. "But I really think that we'll do well as a team, if the rest of the newbies, I suppose you could call us, are amenable to the diversity."  
  
"You use a lot of big words for a twelve year-old," Adam commented as they went into the kitchen.  
  
"I've been in spelling bees since the first grade. I had to practically swallow the dictionary to keep up with my brother," she replied. "Besides, I like big words."  
  
"Whatever. Mom left us a note. She and Dad went to an HOA meeting, and Daniel's at a friend's house. We have the kitchen and the food to ourselves. Movie?"  
  
"Movie," she agreed. 


	4. Team USA

"Team USA"  
  
Though not nervous, Maurae couldn't honestly call herself calm, either. The first four weeks had passed quickly once she'd made friends with her teammates. They played street hockey almost every weekend, but several times she would decline the invitation to stay in her room at the Banks house and just read or write. She was very fond of writing letters to her family, and did so almost daily.  
  
So when Adam shook her awake one morning after a late night of reading, it came rushing back to her that she was supposed to go to the first official team practice that day. Flinging aside the blankets, she leapt up and started to race around the room, looking for clean clothes and hockey gear and all sorts of stuff.  
  
Adam's mother had breakfast waiting for them, but Maurae hardly touched it, consuming a single Pop Tart and a glass of orange juice. Then Philip herded them to the car and drove them to the rink. Adam led her in and showed her the guest locker room, where she'd been instructed to go to meet all the other new players.  
  
The other five players were already present when she entered and they all stared at her for a few moments. She smiled and went to sit down on a free bench. "Morning," she said cheerfully. A mumbled chorus of replies came back at her, and they looked away, each lost in their own thoughts.  
  
Don Tibbles walked in, all smiles. "Good morning, Maurae. How have you been getting on with Adam?"  
  
"Adam's great, Don," she said, smiling again. "He's been taking me to play street with the others since I got here. Really, he's been a wonderful host."  
  
"Good, good. Maurae, these are the other players I've been recruiting."  
  
"Yes, I gathered that," she murmured under her breath, causing the Latin boy next to her to snort and hide a smile.  
  
"I'll let you all introduce yourselves while I go and see if everyone else is ready." Maurae nodded and started to pull her hockey gear out.  
  
"Luis Mendoza," the Latino said, smiling a charming smile which she returned. "I'm from Miami." He started when she took off her sweater and started to change. Slowly, the others started to stare in astonishment as she seemed to display a distinct lack of modesty.  
  
"What?" she asked, finally noticing the looks.  
  
"Are you...I didn't...I thought you'd change in the shower, like me," commented the girl near the other wall. Maurae grinned.  
  
"I've been changing in front of boys for half my life. I'm kind of used to it," she replied with a shrug, pulling her uniform jersey on over her pads. "I'm Maurae. I'm from Aurora, in Colorado."  
  
Dean Portman would have been intimidating if she hadn't played hockey on an all-boy team for six years. He was about as tall as Fulton, and burly. He hailed from Chicago. Julie Gaffney was a goalie from Bangor, Maine, and the third girl on the team. Ken Wu, a former Olympic figure skater, was a small Asian boy from San Francisco. And Dwayne Robertson was a sweet, slightly oblivious cowboy from Austin with a smile designed to melt hearts. And they were the country's best.  
  
************************************************************  
  
Out on the ice, Maurae's nerves came back to her and she fidgeted. When Adam offered an encouraging smile, though, she took a deep breath and smiled back, feeling better already.  
  
One by one, they were introduced to the coach, Gordon Bombay, who watched them each give a demonstration of their skill before falling back to let the next person go. Maurae skated forward when Don nodded to her and stopped precisely in front of her new coach.  
  
"This is Maurae Grabeklis, from Denver."  
  
"Aurora," she corrected automatically, then flushed. "Sorry, it was a reflex."  
  
"Anyway, Maurae can do pretty much anything you want her to. She's the best center forward I saw."  
  
"Center forward, huh? Banks!" Adam skated forward. "Square off against Aurora here at center ice. Let's see it, then." Adam smiled and the two kids obeyed. Maurae's helmet faceplate was not even an inch from Adam's.  
  
"Let's do this, Aurora," he teased. She shook her head and smiled.  
  
"Bring it on, Adam," she retorted, then proceeded to slip the puck between his legs and spin around him to go after it, taking an easy shot at the open net from the blue line. She retrieved it and passed it back to him before returning to her place in front of the coach.  
  
"Impressive. Thank you." She nodded, going back to her place along the line of newbies. Then Dean Portman made his entrance and she shook her head ruefully. He was a jerk, plain and simple, rude, crude, and thoroughly exasperating. He skated circles around a couple of the old Ducks, terrorized Dwayne, whom she felt particularly protective of for some reason, tossed his stick at Julie, and lifted Ken onto the goal.  
  
Which, of course, sparked a fight. No actual punches were being thrown, yet, but the newbies were faced off against the oldies, and only Adam and Maurae were staying out of it. When the shouts reached the temperature to spark violence, Maurae pulled off her gloves and put two fingers to her lips, like Leon had taught her, and blew. Hard. The air came out as a shrill, loud whistle that froze the argument cold.  
  
"I've seen five year-olds behave with more maturity," she said when they had all turned to look at her. Her voice was firm and slightly angry. "You sound like squabbling chickens." Her eyes blazed with both humor and annoyance. "We're supposed to be a team. Why are you arguing?"  
  
"She's right," Bombay said from behind her. "Now, we didn't come here to fight. We came here to play hockey. We're Team USA. We represent your country."  
  
"That's right!" Tibbles interjected enthusiastically. Then he put up his hands and backed up, relinquishing the 'stage', as it were, to the coach.  
  
"You've got to-"  
  
"To be all that you can be, right?! You've got to raise yourselves up, guys! You've got to-"He stopped.  
  
"All right, team, scrimmage." Bombay raised his whistle, but Tibbles beat him to it.  
  
"Right! Scrimmage! Now, you heard your coach, you-"He stopped again and looked a little sheepish. "Hey, you don't need me here. I've got a meeting with Miss McKay. She's the team tutor." He started to walk away carefully.  
  
"Don?" Bombay held out his hand. "Come on." Reluctantly, Tibbles placed his whistle in the outstretched hand. "You'll get it back at the end of the school term." A ripple of laughter went through the team. Once Tibbles was gone, he lifted the whistle to his mouth. "Let's show them what you've got, Ducks! Let's go!" The whistle blasted and the fragmented team split again, oldies vs. newbies. The oldies, at least, had some respect for Maurae's skills.  
  
She was finally back in her element, on the ice, doing her thing. And it felt good. 


	5. Thoughts and Words

"Thoughts..."  
  
Dean Portman watched her, respect mixing with awe, and a little annoyance. The girl was good, that much was obvious. But she was a little priss, and something of a coach's pet. He shook his head. Whatever, everyone seemed to like her. And she was good...  
  
Adam grinned as she scored again, even though his team was now losing by three. She was like a ballerina on skates the way she danced around them all smoothly to score again and again. He was glad she was on his team, and even more glad he'd decided to open up to her, to let her be his friend...  
  
Gordon Bombay watched in undisguised amazement as the small girl managed to score a fifth time, getting past some of his stars as if they weren't there. Don hadn't been kidding when he'd said she was amazing. The girl could fly, and she was practical. He mused on the ay she'd halted the fight earlier. She had some surprises, and she wasn't intimidated by boys or by size, or even by fierce glares. That was good. She also seemed to have a cool head and a slow temper, if she even had one at all. He smiled; she would be a good addition to the team. Half of them seemed to like her a lot already, and the other half was clearly awed at her speed and skill...  
  
Connie watched her in surprise. Despite all the play games they'd had in the weeks previous, it continued to awe and surprise her that Maurae could really be that good. She seemed totally devoted to the game in a way that even Adam couldn't match, and that was different. With Connie, hockey was just something she did, and she was surprised to find a girl whose whole life seemed to be about hockey...  
  
Julie, too, was shocked and amazed. Maurae was lighting on skates, never long in one spot, never pulling the same move on the same person twice (yet). She was glad that the other two girls on the team were so good at scoring and defense; she couldn't handle competition for the goalie spot...  
  
Jesse Hall had decided the moment Adam had introduced her that he wanted to be friends with her. Past the stage where girls were evil and had cooties, he was, in fact, quite interested in getting to know her better. She was pretty, and funny, and extremely talented in the hockey playing department. According to Adam, she was also really smart and well-mannered. And Jesse wanted to be her friend for longer than the six months of the Games, after she went back to her league team in Colorado...  
  
Charlie Conway mentally shook his head. He wished Adam and Jesse, his two best friends, would quit staring at her and get with it. Sure, she had skill, but...but she was a girl. 'Yeah, great excuse, Conway,' he thought to himself. 'We can't be her friend because she's a girl. Connie would kick your butt if she could read your mind.' So he was glad that Connie couldn't read minds, but that meant he was slightly distracted and unprepared for her to check him into the boards and steal the puck from him with a small smile on her lips. She was good, probably noticing his distraction and taking advantage of it...  
  
Maurae was incredibly happy with her placement on the team. She was friendly by nature, and optimistic. And she felt good here, despite being so far from home. The hockey rink was where she felt comfortable, no matter which state it was in. And her new team was a group of good people, despite their hot tempers. She hoped that she could be friends with them all even after the Games were done and each had gone home to their own leagues...  
  
**********************************************************  
  
A/N: I know I skipped a bit, the whole scene with Miss McKay, and Don getting hit with the puck, and the lovely zamboni crash and all. I know you remember them, but 'Maurae' wasn't really involved in the zamboni incident, and the puck incident was great in and of itself, not something I want to mess with. She makes reference to them later in the chapter, talking to Adam about their first official practice.  
  
"...and Words"  
  
After practice, they'd moved into the same locker room. The atmosphere was much more relaxed and amicable than it had been earlier, now that they knew each other a bit better.  
  
The three girls had their lockers together near the rear of the room, in full view of the showers. Julie and Connie had dragged Maurae into the showers to change instead of letting her change in the room with the guys watching, as she normally would have. Not used to girl chatter, Maurae listened to their conversation and answered questions about herself, showering in her bodysuit and wrapping a towel around her chest afterwards. Once the boys went into the showers, the three girls could change without ogling eyes.  
  
That was how Julie and Connie discovered her aptitude for changing behind a towel. The saw no more than her legs and head the whole time, and she came out completely dressed, wrapping the towel around her hair to soak up moisture.  
  
She was tying her shoes when the boys started to trickle out of the shower, towels wrapped around their waists. Ignoring them completely, per her habits, Maurae tuned back into the conversation Julie and Connie were having. Of all crazy things, they were talking about Star Wars, an obsession.  
  
"I heard there's going to be a new one soon," Julie was saying.  
  
"A new trilogy," Maurae said.  
  
"Really? My brother told me that George Lucas is going to make just the one."  
  
"A new trilogy that provides the back story of Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader."  
  
"How do you know?" This was Dean. In answer, she pulled a magazine out of her hockey bag.  
  
"I'm a member of the Star Wars fan club and I have a subscription to Star Wars Insider magazine," she said. "Have been for years."  
  
"Oh. Hey, does it tell you the cast and stuff?"  
  
"Yes. Cast, crew, pictures, stories. All sorts of fun stuff." She put it away and turned back to Julie, her face slightly heated from having seen so many towel-covered bodies. "My brother and I were planning on going to see it on opening night. It's called The Phantom Menace."  
  
"Cool. Hey, Julie's staying with me, so you should come over sometime, to hang out."  
  
"We're going to be living together in the dorms for four months, Connie," Maurae pointed out. "I think you'll get sick of me."  
  
"Maybe you're right. Anyway, see you at practice tomorrow."  
  
"See you," Maurae responded as the two girls left the locker room. She packed her bag back up and hoisted it onto her shoulder. Carefully not looking at the half-clothed bodies, she left too, to sit on the bench out in front of the rink to wait for Adam to come out and their ride to arrive.  
  
"So, what's she really like? She can't always be that cheerful," Luis said once she'd left. His question was directed at Adam. Dwayne looked up.  
  
"Why not?" he asked innocently, his soft Texan twang resonating through his words.  
  
"Nobody is that happy all the time."  
  
"She is," Adam said. "She even smiles in her sleep. I think she's just one of those people that loves the world."  
  
"Don't mind that so much. And it would creep me out if it was one of the fake smiles that cheerleaders and actors wear. But hers is real, and that's just plain weird."  
  
"So she's amused. Who cares?" Adam was starting to get uncomfortable, discussing his new friend like she was a painting. "I like her."  
  
"That was never the issue. I like her too. In fact, I may ask her out sometime. But what I want to know is why? Why is she such an optimist?"  
  
"Because nothing in her life is bad," Charlie hazarded. "From what we found out about her family, it's practically perfect. She loves playing hockey and she's good at it. She told us that her team has only lost maybe five games in the six years she's been playing."  
  
"Her life is perfect," Ken whistled. Adam kept his mouth shut. If they didn't know that she often locked herself in the guest room to do who knew what, he wasn't going to spill that little tidbit. You don't lock yourself in a room to be happy. But she was a happy person by nature, and every time he saw her, she was smiling. The only thing she didn't seem to like about her life was the fact that a thousand miles now separated her from her parents and her brothers and most of her friends.  
  
He smiled and waved to his teammates as he left the locker room and went out to join Maurae on the bench.  
  
"How'd you like your first official practice?"  
  
"Is it always that exciting?" she teased. Adam reflected on all the things that had happened during the scrimmage and grinned.  
  
"No, thank God. Fulton usually makes his shots anymore, but that was brilliant, the way it kept ricocheting off everything. I can't believe it hit Tibbles so hard."  
  
"I still don't see why we have to have a tutor," she said, not really changing the subject, but changing the vein.  
  
"I guess they don't want us to get stupid while we're playing hockey for the nation," he replied dryly.  
  
"We're Team USA now Adam. We can do anything!"  
  
She was only half serious. 


	6. Skating As One and Eating Cake

A/N: To my reviewers: [antiIRONY]: Leon's three years older than Maurae, so about 15, almost 16.  
  
[banks'_gurl_99]: Well, here's what's next. ;)  
  
[preciousbabyblue]: It's supposed to be a surprise. Also, remember that right now, she's only 12, even if she is an old 12. You'll see, eventually. But I will aim to confuse you for a while.  
  
Since I haven't done it yet, even though I meant to, here it is, the standard disclaimer: I DO NOT own the Mighty Ducks. Yes, I borrowed them, and roughed them up a little, but I had them back before anyone noticed, I'm sure. Disney is the owner. Neither do I own the JGG, or any of the other characters that Disney created. I own Maurae because she is an extension of myself, and basically all the unfamiliar characters you'll come across (especially those in the first "chapter". Of course, if you want to use them for your fic, by all means, go ahead. Just credit me. ( Other than that, don't sue me. I have no money, and I'm not making money off these fics.  
  
I hope that's enough. ;)  
  
"Skating As One and Eating Cake"  
  
Tied together. Maurae had never been more mortified, or more confused, in her life. Despite the fact that someone's roving hands kept touching her in awkward places, she was slightly amused at the difficulties the whole team was having. Tied together, they had to move together, or risk tumbling down like dominoes, only to have to get themselves up. Which would have been difficult enough in street clothes and shoes, but was made even more difficult by their bulky pads and skates.  
  
And the fact that Fulton and Portman kept getting into power struggles. 'They'll either end up killing each other, or the best of friends,' she thought as she steadied herself just before she fell and dragged them all down on top of her. Julie grinned over at her as she hooked her other arm through Maurae's. Maurae returned the smile and turned her attention to pushing a little more with her skates so she wasn't relying on the skaters behind her to push her forward.  
  
Bombay gazed approvingly at the team. He clapped his hands. "Good! You've got it. That's it! Move together, CHARGE! Okay, right turn!" Obediently, the team turned as one, grinning like fools the whole time. It had taken them nearly three hours to learn how to read each other's movements enough to skate as one. Maurae bit back a sharp reprimand when another hand found her rear. It was immediately withdrawn and she realized that it was an accident, not deliberate, as Dean's and Luis's "feelies" had been.  
  
Finally satisfied for the time, Bombay untied them. Freed, Maurae soared around the rink, followed by the team. Luis was the only one who could keep up with her, but at his fastest, he couldn't stop. So she grabbed his arm and the two spun in circles until they slowed. Then she went to one knee, extremely dizzy and short of breath suddenly. Thinking she was resting, the rest of the team stopped and either dropped to their knees or stood around. Adam noticed her heaving shoulders, but said nothing, only watched her, concerned. When she flopped onto her back, breathing slowing, he smiled. She grinned back, her eyes anxious. But Bombay intruded then.  
  
"I'm proud of you, team. You worked hard today. But hockey...should also be fun." He smirked. "Rancher Dwayne," he drawled, causing the cowboy to turn.  
  
"Yes, sir?" he asked timidly.  
  
"Round me up some stray cattle, ere," Bombay said, handing him a lasso. Dwayne's eyes lit up and he turned them on his teammates.  
  
"Yes, sir!"  
  
"Ooooh!" they exclaimed as they all scrambled to their feet and scattered, Maurae a bit behind the others. She was grinning equally as giddily, but her eyes were subdued. She'd just finished fighting off an asthma attack, and she didn't need to drop again so soon. To be safe, she skated over to the bench where Bombay was watching the game, amused. He didn't look over until she opened the door and stepped into the box.  
  
"You aren't out yet," he said.  
  
"No, I'm not. I need to get something."  
  
"Get back out there and have fun."  
  
"Coach, you DO know I'm an asthmatic, don't you?" Then he turned his whole attention on her, eyes wide. "I'll assume that means no. I am, and I need my inhaler before I play. Sometimes it does this. Normally, it's only allergy activated. And occasionally, exercise induced. I just need a few seconds, and I'll be fine." She dug the white tube from a pocket in her water bottle's holder and he turned back to the round-up, letting her have a moment of privacy.  
  
A few seconds later, she vaulted over the wall and skated in, her smile as big as ever. One by one, Dwayne caught them, and Bombay brought them to the bench. Finally, only Adam, Maurae and Dwayne were left. The two center forwards were dancing an intricate pattern around the cowboy, who had his eyes constantly fixed on Adam.  
  
Dwayne swung, aiming behind Maurae and the lasso flew. Adam ducked instinctively, and the lasso settled around his shoulders. A sharp whistle blast, a groan of disappointment from the benched Ducks, and only Maurae was left.  
  
"Think you can catch me, cowboy?" she teased. He grinned.  
  
"I kept you for last, little filly," he teased right back. "I'll catch you. I always catch what I'm aimin' for."  
  
"Let's see it, then, Dwayne," she retorted, and spun out of his reach. He went after her, only to have her turn suddenly and skate straight at him. Surprised, he only realized that she'd tied the lasso around HIM when he heard the stunned silence reverberating through the rink. "Looks like I roped myself a cowboy," she said, pulling him to his feet and untying the hasty knot she'd managed, freeing his arms. He bowed gallantly and whooped a laugh, causing her to giggle. The rest of the team laughed and several of them patted her on the back. Adam slung an arm over her shoulder.  
  
"You okay?" he murmured.  
  
She shot him a look. "I won, didn't I?" she shot back. He removed his arm and nodded, skating away backwards. She heaved an inner sigh. She put it out of her mind and turned back to Dwayne, who was having his back slapped in sympathy by Luis and Charlie.  
  
"I'm proud of you team. That was a great practice," Bombay said then. "Now get out of here and have a fun afternoon!" A resounding cheer went up and the team skated off to gather their stuff from the bench and return to the locker room. Maurae showered with the girls first and changed after the guys had gone into the showers, chatting gaily with her two female teammates as the boys started to slowly trickle out of the showers, wrapped in their towels. They kept up their chatter as an excuse not to let their eyes wander, but none of the three really wanted to leave. So the boys pretended to ignore them as much as they were pretending to ignore the boys. Shortly after Adam had started changing at his locker next to hers, Maurae started to flush, from her shoulders, up her neck to the rest of her face. Connie went next, after seeing Guy in his towel. Julie was last, when she happened to meet Dean's eyes. Swallowing so hard she might have swallowed her voice box, Maurae picked up her bag and bolted, trailing her two friends, much to the amusement of several of those boys actually paying attention to the female presence.  
  
"I have a feeling that they'll be keeping us modest," Dean muttered as the door swung shut behind Julie. "But how about peeking? Banksie, your locker's closest to the shower. What did you see?"  
  
Adam blushed crimson. "I'd NEVER look at a girl in the shower! He shouted. "That's an invasion of privacy!"  
  
"You're more of a priss than I thought," Dean sneered.  
  
"He's just got manners, Portman," Charlie said coldly, stepping forward to stand with his friend. Jesse took the other side.  
  
"Adam's a gentleman, Dean," he snarled. "Unlike you, he's smart enough to know not to mess with hockey girls." Both boys would defend Adam to the death, just as he would for them. Of course, to a twelve year-old, the world was much more dramatic that it had to be.  
  
Someone cleared their throat and the tension dissipated. Then they turned to look. Maurae was standing in the door, one hand on her hip, the other on the door. "Adam, your father's here to pick us up," she said quietly, eyes fixed firmly on his flushed face, her eyes wide in her pale face, sparkling. Then she left as he picked up his bag and left, shooting one last glare at Dean before going.  
  
Maurae was already situated in the front seat, staring straight ahead. Philip waited next to the trunk for his younger son and loaded his bag into the trunk. "She told me what she walked in on."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"I'm proud of you. I've seen that Portman kid. It was brave of you to stand up to him."  
  
"Oh." Adam wondered suddenly what Maurae had told his father. He climbed into the backseat and endured the ride in silence. Maurae was out first, leaving her bag in the trunk for practice tomorrow. She danced up the path to the front door and let herself in, kicking off her sandals before running up the stairs to the guest room. Adam waved goodbye to his father who had come to get them during his lunch break, and followed her into the house. "Maurae?"  
  
"Up here!" she called back down the stairs. He trudged up them and stopped outside her door. She was sprawled in the windowseat, situating herself around a reading book. "What's up?"  
  
"I'm sorry. For today, I mean."  
  
"I know I'm still just a girl to you and the guys, Adam," she said calmly. Before he could protest, she went on. "And I know you and the oldies have close bonds that I probably won't ever share. But none of us can change that we're teammates now. I do appreciate your giving us privacy for our showers, though," she teased at the end. He smiled.  
  
"You're welcome. But you're wrong. You're not just a girl. Connie adores you. She's given you a nickname, too, calling you 'Aurora,' just like Coach did yesterday. She and Julie love you. And Averman can't tell us enough how much he loves that you actually get his jokes on the first telling. I could give you the opinions of the others, but they're all the same. Everybody thinks you're great, 'Aurora.' And that means you're in. And with this crew, once you're in, you're in for life. Trust me, I know from experience." He proceeded to tell her of his adventures the year previous with the Ducks and the Hawks.  
  
"So they avenged me, I guess you could say, and went on to win their first state championship, over the Hawks, the longest running state champs in the country." She grinned.  
  
"Charlie and Jesse would certainly do anything for you. I saw that much already." She squeezed his arm. "Thanks for telling me." She lowered her head for a second. "I suppose you want to know what happened today at practice?"  
  
"Yes, please."  
  
"Honestly, you'd make a great parent, Adam. It's honestly nothing to be concerned over. I'm an asthmatic, with allergy and occasionally exercise triggers. Today, I exerted myself a bit too much and had to rest a while, and take medicine. It rarely happens, and I truly am all right."  
  
"Oh, that's all? Daniel's an asthmatic, too. One of the reasons he quit hockey, actually. Now he takes martial arts, which is easier on his respiratory system." He smirked at her. "And I learned all those big words from the doctor." She laughed. "So don't worry about the others, Ro," he added, shortening her new nickname even further. She smiled.  
  
"I don't worry, Adam. At least not anymore." She raised one eyebrow. "Ro, huh? I kind of like it."  
  
"Good, because nicknames tend to stick to you with this bunch." He made a face. "I know. They still call me 'Cake-eater.'" She giggled hysterically and Adam chucked a pillow at her, grinning himself. 


	7. Planes and Pills

"Planes and Pills"  
  
Maurae woke up with a headache on the morning they were set to board their plane for California. She and Adam had packed the night before, loading their suitcases and hockey bags into the trunk of Philip's car before going to bed.  
  
Adam bonded in just as she finished braiding her hair, exuding energy that she didn't feel. "What do you want?" she snapped, going into an instant 'I- hate-people-today-and-you're-no-exception' moods. He gave her a look and she turned back to the mirror. "Go away."  
  
Ignoring her imperious command, he smiled. "Ready to go?"  
  
"Do I look ready to go?" Her sarcastic tone was starting to have an effect on the usually easy-going Adam, and he scowled at the back of her head.  
  
"Well, fine then. If you're going to be a witch today, I'll just leave you alone."  
  
"See that you do."  
  
She didn't look up as he left, and didn't even feel sorry at first. She'd just instigated what was surely to develop into the first argument between the two forwards. They rode to the airport in stony silence, neither speaking to the other, and neither making eye contact.  
  
After checking in with the team and checking their bags, Philip smiled at his son and hugged him goodbye. He hugged Maurae too and waved at them as he drove off. Turning on her heel, Maurae strode back into the terminal with her backpack on, over to where the rest of the team was gathered. She chose a chair, sat down, pulled out a thick book, and buried her face in it as Adam approached.  
  
"What's the matter with her?" she heard Ken ask Adam.  
  
"She's got something stuck up her butt," he replied angrily. "She's been like that all morning." She continued to ignore them all until Bombay approached with their boarding passes. He handed them all out until he was only holding his and Maurae's.  
  
"Ro?" he asked, having picked up on the nickname as Adam had prophesied four weeks earlier. She looked up, her face blank of emotion, her eyes cold fire. "Your pass." She took it silently and looked at it.  
  
"Thank you," she said calmly. Putting the book back in her backpack, she unfolded her legs and got up, shouldering the bag and following the crowd of fourteen to their gate.  
  
Boarding was an adventure because they had two whole rows near the rear of the plane and it took them nearly twenty minutes to board. It would have been easier if Adam and Maurae had discovered before the boarding call that they were seat partners. Uncharacteristically, it was Maurae who raised the protest and Adam who wholeheartedly agreed they could not spend the flight in such close proximity. In the end, the only person who would brave sitting next to her was Portman, which did nothing for her mood.  
  
In fact, it only darkened. In order to keep peace on the plane, she pulled on her headphones, and stuck her nose back in her book. When the pilot came over the PA, Portman grabbed her attention by pulling off the headphones. She shot him a glare but said nothing.  
  
'Ladies and gentleman, welcome to Flight 214, nonstop from Minneapolis to Los Angeles. Our flight time today will be approximately four and a half hours. Flight attendants please prepare for takeoff.'  
  
Maurae swallowed hard and paled dramatically. She squeezed her eyes shut and brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, burying her face in her knees. "I'll be fine, we aren't going to crash," she muttered under her breath, repeatedly.  
  
And Dean knew why she was being such a temperamental witch. She was afraid to fly. More than that, she was so terrified of flying that it paralyzed her normal sunny disposition and brought out the bad moods. He smiled and leaned back in his seat, bringing his hands up behind his head casually.  
  
"Afraid to fly, princess?" he asked, loud enough so that the question carried to the others.  
  
"Yes," she snapped. "Now shut up and leave me alone." She put on her headphones, cranked the music loud and buried her face once more in her knees, still reassuring herself quietly.  
  
Smugly, he turned in his seat and raised an eyebrow at Adam. "You just have to know how to handle her, preppie," he said. Adam made a face but didn't respond. Halfway through takeoff, Maurae sat up and reached into her bag again, pulling out a pill bottle. She tapped out two pills into her hand and tossed them back, using a little of the water left in her bottle.  
  
Five minutes later, she was unconscious. When the drink cart came by, Dean removed the headphones and tapped her shoulder. Then he shook her. He got himself a soda and water for her, in case she woke up. When the meal cart cam by at the two hour mark, Dean tried again to wake her up. After the cart had passed, he shook her harder, so that her head flopped around.  
  
"Um, Coach?" Bombay got up and came over. "She's been like that since takeoff."  
  
Bombay looked at her and tapped her. "Did she take anything?"  
  
"Pills. I assumed she had a headache and was taking a nap."  
  
"No, I think it was a sedative. She said she was afraid of flying, and she must have medicine to help calm her down somehow. Could you find me the bottle?" Dean obediently dug around the bag, past books and a journal until he found the pill bottle and handed it to Bombay. "I thought so. Did you see how many she took?"  
  
"Two, I think?"  
  
Bombay snorted, and a smile teased his mouth. "Oh, yeah, she'll be out for a while. She was supposed to take one with a full glass of water in order to keep her calm for three hours. I assume that she didn't use much water? Well, two with a little water will keep her out for about five hours, give or take. See if you can rouse her enough to drink some more water. That will help her wash out." He handed back the bottle and went to his seat, still slightly amused.  
  
Dean poked and prodded her in various spots, trying to do as he'd been instructed. He finally got a reaction when he poked her in the stomach.  
  
"Don't touch me, Justin!" she exclaimed sleepily. Dean grabbed the water.  
  
"Drink," he demanded. She glared at him, eyes glazed, but obeyed when he added, "please." She drained the cup and handed it back, so he refilled it from the bottle and gave it to her, which she drained again. Then he simply handed her the bottle and watched as she drank it all and handed it back for more. So he handed her the water bottle from his carry on and shook his head in amazement as she drank the entire liter, barely stopping to breathe. Seemingly satisfied with that, she handed it back, closed her eyes and went back to sleep, albeit, more naturally than before. Bombay nodded at him.  
  
She woke up to the thump of landing gear hitting the ground, slightly groggy, but in full control of herself. She didn't remember a thing from the flight, or most of the morning, either. Her head felt stuffed with cotton, but other than that, she felt fine.  
  
"Have a nice nap?" Dean asked her sarcastically, fully expecting the reassertion of her witchy mood.  
  
"Very, thank you. I can't believe I slept that long. Must not have slept well last night.  
  
"Or maybe you OD'ed on sedatives," he shot back, making her eyes widen.  
  
"I did what?"  
  
"Took two pills with a few sips of water. Then you proceeded to drain all the water in your immediate vicinity." Her face was pale again.  
  
"Oh, no. I was mean this morning, wasn't I?"  
  
"What was your first clue?"  
  
"I have an extreme fear of flying, Dean," she said quietly as they stood and prepared to get off the plane. "Fear makes me cranky. When I get cranky, I get mad. And when I lose my temper, I'm quite cruel and petty." She shrugged. "I don't remember anything after waking up this morning and eating breakfast."  
  
"Apologize to the others. I think they need it more than I do."  
  
"I'm not going to apologize for who I am, and if who I am happens to be cranky sometimes, they can either deal with it or they can't. If they can't, it's not my fault. Everyone has off days, Dean, and I'm not going to apologize for mine. No one's ever apologized to me for theirs." She followed him down the aisle silently, and out of the plane with a sigh of relief into the humid, warm California air. 


	8. Apologize?

A/N: Reviewers: [denverhockeygirl]: I'm so glad you noticed! I was starting to think no one would realize that maybe Maurae's just a little too perfect? You're right. I made her a Sue for a good reason. You have to get to know her a little first. I hope you liked chapter six. And no, she didn't play for the Select; she's in a boys' league.  
  
[nottshockeygirl99]: Sue's are fun, but she's not going to be one forever. Hope you don't mind.  
  
[antiIRONY]: Like I told preciousbabyblue before, you'll have to wait and see. ;) Also, her nickname (Ro) is actually one I was given a long time ago, for different reasons, but I always liked it.  
  
"Apologize?"  
  
Maurae was quite cheerful as she followed the mob that was her team around Los Angeles, looking around at all the other countries' representatives. Adam was still cool towards her, Dean wouldn't shut up, and the others were going out of their way not to make eye contact with her. Except Dwayne, who kept smiling his goofy smile, as he always did.  
  
'I must have been more of a witch than usual,' she thought ruefully as she looked around at the other hockey teams. One fact was immediately drawn to her attention. "Um, Connie? Jules? Have you noticed we're the only hockey team with girls?" she asked. The rest stopped and looked around, realizing the veracity of her statement almost instantly.  
  
"Great. Just great; it's not enough that we have to put up with these clowns all the time. Now we've got to be the only three girls at the freaking tournament," Connie moaned.  
  
"Look on the bright side," Julie said halfheartedly. "Ay least we won't have to room with girls we don't know."  
  
"You've got a point," Connie said. They both looked at Maurae, whose attention had been captured elsewhere. "Ro, what are you staring at?"  
  
"That guy is staring at me," she said, not pointing. The two girls looked. The guy in question was at least a foot taller than any of them, and twice as broad. His light brown hair hung stick-straight to his chin, and his eyes sparkled as he smirked at them. Maurae blinked as an even taller and broader blond walked up to him and said something in a language she couldn't even begin to decipher.  
  
"He's kind of cute," Julie said, grinning. That pulled Maurae out of her fog enough to break eye contact. "What? He is."  
  
Maurae struggled to hide her grin. "Jules, what are we going to do with you?"  
  
Grinning wickedly, Connie jumped in. "WE aren't going to do anything. Though Julie and I may have to lock you in the bathroom for your behavior this morning." Maurae winced.  
  
"I was that bad?"  
  
"Yes. You were cold and cruel, and you hurt Adam's feelings. And Ken's feelings. Besides, we can hold it over your head that it was Portman that saved you." Maurae groaned, but she was smiling.  
  
"Oh, dear. Do you have to rub that in my face? I was stupid! I know that. I didn't mean to OD, I just wasn't paying attention." Her ears turned pink.  
  
"Hello," said a heavily accented male's voice. Maurae took in her friends' wide eyes before turning around and seeing the speaker, the same boy who'd been watching her before and his blond friend.  
  
"Hello," the three girls chorused.  
  
"I am Gunnar Stahl. This is my friend Olaf Sanderson." He spoke slowly, making sure not to slur his words with his thick accent. His smile revealed straight, white teeth, and his eyes never left her face.  
  
"I'm Julie Gaffney," Julie said when Maurae made no move to introduce herself. "This is Connie Moreau, and Maurae Grabeklis."  
  
"We play for Team Iceland," Olaf spoke up, obviously thinking to impress them. Maurae smiled a sarcastic smile.  
  
"We play for Team USA," she replied. The boys were silent a moment before they started to chuckle.  
  
"That is a good joke, no?"  
  
"Ha ha. No, actually, it isn't. We really do play for Team USA."  
  
"But...but you are girls!" Gunnar exclaimed, still chuckling. "Girls do not play hockey.  
  
"Maybe not where you're from, pretty boy, but here, girls do play hockey, and we're the best," Connie spoke up, her feathers ruffled. Maurae suddenly realized that they'd lost the others.  
  
"Um, guys? Where's everybody else?" Julie started looking around and Connie paled.  
  
"Didn't they go this way?"  
  
"I thought we were headed this way."  
  
"They could be anywhere by now."  
  
"Howdy, ladies. Get yourselves lost?" asked Dwayne suddenly, with that familiar Texas twang. Maurae smiled in relief.  
  
"Dwayne!" she exclaimed. "Boy, are we glad to see you! We got separated." He smiled and patted her shoulder.  
  
"Not to fret, little filly," he teased affectionately. "We all split up after Bombay showed us the locker room and I saw that you'd been missin'. So I set out to find you." Connie grabbed his arm.  
  
"Dwayne, do you know where Guy went?"  
  
"I think he went over to the gymnastics place." Connie zoomed off. Julie saluted and followed. Maurae suddenly remembered that she still had company.  
  
"Oh, forgive my lapse in manners!" she exclaimed, feigning cordiality for Dwayne's sake. "Gentleman, this is Dwayne Robertson. He also plays for Team USA. Dwayne, this is Gunnar Stahl and Olaf Sanderson. They play for Team Iceland." Dwayne lifted the brim of his cowboy hat in salute.  
  
"Howdy, boys."  
  
"Tell me, Dwayne," Gunnar said, his accent thick. "Is it true that Team USA has girls?"  
  
"Why, you're lookin' at one of them now!" he explained cheerfully. Maurae smiled smugly and grabbed his arm.  
  
"It was nice to meet the two of you. I'm sure I'll see you around sometime. Dwayne, could you show me where the locker room is? I kind of want to get a general idea of the layout." He smiled and led her away.  
  
Adam, Charlie, and Jesse were sitting in the locker room when she arrived with Dwayne. She stiffened, but he let go of her arm. "Talk to them," he whispered.  
  
"You want me to apologize too?" she sighed. He smiled and gave her a little push into the room. Charlie looked up.  
  
"Well, look who it is," he said quietly. Adam and Jesse looked up; Adam scowled and Jesse looked slightly confused. "Come to abuse us with some more silence? Or are you going to cut at us with your acid tongue like you did Portman?"  
  
"He can handle it, he's a big boy now," she retorted. "And no, to both. I came to get my bearings. But as long as you're here, I suppose I should say something. The truth is, I don't really remember anything after breakfast this morning. I do remember I was scared witless about getting on another plane. I didn't mean to snap or be as mean as I can tell that I was. It happens sometimes, when I forget to take my sedatives beforehand. One of the many reasons my parents decided to let me go on them in the first place. So whatever I did or said, I'm sorry."  
  
"You were a total witch, Ro. To everybody."  
  
"I'm sorry that you had to find out about my bad side under circumstances like these. But that's just part of it, okay? I am who I am, the good and the bad. And the worst, which you no doubt experienced today, from the look on Adam's face. All I can say is that I'm sorry, all right? And I am." She turned and left the locker room, on her way to hunt down Connie and Julie again for some company. 


	9. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"  
  
After swallowing her pride and apologizing for her surliness, peace was restored for a while. They won their first game against Team Trinidad and Tobago. They gave their first interview, which ended in a confrontation instigated by the coach of Team Iceland. Maurae noticed Gunnar smirking at them from beside his coach and shook her head.  
  
"That guy's a dentist?" Ken asked Charlie, indicating the scary man addressed as Wolf 'The Dentist' Stansson.  
  
"Nah, it's a nickname. Played one year of pros. Punched more teeth than goals. I hear he even punched out his own coach!"  
  
"I hear they ran him out of the league and the country," Julie offered helpfully.  
  
"THAT'S his team? Those guys are huge!" Poor Ken was the smallest kid on the team. Maurae shook her head and followed him off the platform. She was glad, that night, when she could fall into bed. Julie and Connie were out almost instantly and so neither of them heard the knock on the door. Groaning, Maurae threw off her blankets and walked over, unlocking it and opening it a crack.  
  
With a sigh, she grabbed her key from its ring next to the door and slipped out. "What's up?" she asked. Dean and Fulton grinned at her.  
  
"Want to ditch curfew with us?"  
  
"We have class in the morning, morons," she replied, yawning. "Maybe some other time, when we don't have class or a game. Besides, what would you do?"  
  
"Midnight game. A bunch of individuals from other teams slipped flyers under everybody's door, to see if we would brave the coaches and meet them all on the ice for a little friendly game of puck." Shaking her head, Maurae allowed them to lead her down to the rink. Fulton gave her his sweater to wear over her sleep cami and she smiled then. They were the only three to show up from Team USA, and the entire turnout was at least ten pounds heavier and six inches taller than her.  
  
They slipped into their pads and skates and then met at center ice to pick teams. As per her expectations, she was the last to be picked, sitting nonchalantly on the ice smugly smiling. Fulton and Portman slapped each other high fives when she was reluctantly chosen for their team.  
  
The captain was the team captain of Team UK. Since there were enough players for each team to have three lines and a goalie, Maurae waited in the bench with a bunch of leering boys, whom she staunchly ignored. Her attention was focused entirely on the game and her two teammates, who were tearing up the ice.  
  
Cheering for Fulton after he scored twice, she slapped him a high five when he took the bench. Knowing she wouldn't see ice time tonight, but not really caring, she waited until Dean also came back to the bench and took off his helmet.  
  
"So, why am I here, again?" she asked, eyes never leaving the ice. Dean shrugged.  
  
"Thought it might be fun."  
  
"Oh, it is. Fortunately, I have no studying to do tonight. Otherwise, I might kill you in the morning," she said. "I'm not going to get to play. I'm the smallest person here, and the only girl. They think I'm a decoration, here to represent the diversity of America but not to be actually in the game."  
  
"She's got a point, man," Fulton agreed.  
  
"She's our secret weapon, then," Dean shrugged.  
  
"I'm going to bed," she said. Leaping over the boards, she interrupted the game, skating smoothly across the rink to the exit, where she slipped on skate guards and yanked off the borrowed pads. Felling as though she should play the part of the silly fool they seemed to see her as, she turned back. "Fulton, what should I do with your sweater?"  
  
"I'll get it later!" he shouted back, reddening slightly. She pulled it off, revealing her cami, and folded it, leaving it on the bench before pulling on her slippers again, waving, and trotting out. "I'm so embarrassed," he muttered to Dean after she'd left.  
  
"Why?" asked his grinning friend. "She was playing her part, fooling them. When we play Iceland, we're going to need that element of surprise."  
  
"I suppose..."  
  
* * * *  
  
Maurae was rudely awakened by Britney Spears the next morning. "Urgh, whoever set it on the pop station should be shot. Immediately." Julie buried her head in her pillow, and Connie burrowed deeper into the blankets. Maurae sat up with a grunt, slapped the off switch, and flopped back down, rolling over and curling herself around her extra pillow.  
  
An hour later, the three girls raced out of their room and down the halls of the dorms, practically shoving people aside in their hurry to get to their classroom. They were already ten minutes late for their first class.  
  
Racing in out of breath, they flushed, taking their seats without saying anything. "So nice of you to join us," Miss McKay remarked, raising an eyebrow. "We were just discussing the first history lesson."  
  
The day went rather well, despite their late start. During lunch, the team ate together outside, enjoying the sunshine. Then came more classes, and finally, practice. Practices were always closed to everyone but the team themselves, to prevent cheating in the form of spying. After two hours of practice, it was time to relinquish the ice to another team, and they were given the rest of the night off. Only Adam and Maurae seemed to want to study; Adam because he was a firm believer that procrastination was a silent killer of dreams, and Maurae because she was paranoid about getting a bad grade in math or science and getting benched. Or worse, brought home. She harassed Adam until he agreed to help her with her math homework.  
  
It took her several hours to work through the algebra problems and the science questions. Once they started English, however, she was done with the reading a good twenty minutes before him and she finished answering the questions before he started. Her history work was moderately paced, enough so that they actually worked on it together, and not one before the other.  
  
They had taken a break for dinner at six, and now, at nine, they were ready to go out. None of the homework was due until the end of the week, but they now had free afternoons all week. Lacing on their rollerblades, the two of them set out towards the training fields where the street rinks and courts and fields were located.  
  
Maurae found the team grouped around a street rink, watching Team UK and Team France fool around. "Oh, there you losers are," Fulton teased when he saw them.  
  
"Funny, I was about to say the same thing about you," she shot back good- naturedly. She and Adam joined them at the fence and smiled. "They're good."  
  
"We're better," Adam replied in a whisper. She agreed silently.  
  
"So, what have you been doing since we left you to your own devices?" she asked instead. "You can't have been watching Europeans beat each other up for four hours."  
  
"Why not?" Jesse retorted.  
  
"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response. You should have just gotten your homework out of the way. Then you'd have free afternoons all week." She shook her head and pushed back from the chain link. "I'm going to go for a skate, if anybody wants to come with."  
  
Dwayne volunteered, as did Luis. So the three hockey players left the training areas and skated a bit around UCLA before heading out to Anaheim itself, exploring the various streets and shops, looking at parks and playgrounds and street rinks.  
  
Luis and Dwayne insisted she skate between them, so they could 'protect' her from muggers or bullies, or other players. She relented only because she knew it would be easier than arguing with them. So she threaded her arms through theirs and the trio skated around the city. Once, Maurae started to hum randomly, and Luis caught on. In the end, they sang a song that they only remembered half the words to and had to stop, they were laughing so hard.  
  
It was ten-thirty before they finally got back to the dorms, and eleven- thirty before Maurae stumbled back into her room for curfew at midnight. She and Julie gossiped until Connie wandered in at five til midnight and then joined in. When Bombay knocked and checked at twelve-thirty, he told them to turn off the lights and go to bed. They had a game at noon the next day, and classes after, so they needed their rest. Especially since he'd called for a wake-up and breakfast for them.  
  
And that's how it went for the first two weeks. Two games a week, one on Wednesday, one on Saturday. Practices every other day, after a day's worth of classes. No classes or practice on Sundays, and no classes after games on Saturdays.  
  
Then they played Iceland. 


	10. One Loss Away From Elimination

"One Loss Away From Elimination"  
  
Maurae's eyes flicked from Dean to the clock and back to Dean. Three seconds. Three...seconds...It was three seconds into the game against Iceland, and Den Portman had been thrown out of the game. Not penalized or benched, but thrown out. She watched as he was escorted out of the rink, watched as he glared back at the bench, at Coach Bombay, in his snazzy new suit, and then punched the boards before stalking off to the locker room.  
  
She traded looks with the others and looked back up at the clock. Dragging her eyes away, she encountered Gunnar, smirking at her. She was seriously getting tired of him. She sat down, waiting for a change-up, her call to play.  
  
Five minutes on the ice, and she hadn't been touched. Aware that her luck might not last, she passed it to Adam, closer to the net. He shot just as she was carried backwards and slammed into the boards with the force of a Mack truck. Her wind gone, she collapsed and lay still, trying to suck in air. She saw Adam score and saw Olaf crack his stick down over Adam's right wrist. And she continued to try and breathe. Goldberg finally noticed that she hadn't moved and called for a time-out, skating over to her and dropping to his knees.  
  
"Hey, Ro, you okay?" She nodded, but couldn't say anything. Charlie and Fulton grabbed her under the arms and hauled her to her feet. She finally gasped in a breath- of pain. They towed her to the bench and sat her down before getting back into the game.  
  
"That was your first contact in six weeks, Ro," Julie said, helping her friend drink some water.  
  
"Nine and a half," Connie corrected. "No one could touch her in all the games we played on the street court, either."  
  
"How do you feel?"  
  
"I hurt," Maurae wheezed. "I can barely breathe, and I know my ribs are at least bruised. But Adam. Where is he? I saw that idiot slam his wrist."  
  
"Adam's fine. Either that or he's being stoic," Guy replied as he sat down, taking Connie's place on the bench. Maurae took the time to look around then. She noticed a black street kid harassing Jesse, but turned her attention away from her capable friend and back to Luis, now taking Guy's place on the bench as the blond searched for his water bottle.  
  
"How are you feeling, Ro?" he asked, pulling off his helmet and gloves and dumping a trickle of water on his head. It streamed down his sweaty face and she smiled weakly.  
  
"I'll live, albeit painfully. How are you holding up?"  
  
"I'm hanging in there." He wiped his face on his sleeve and smiled broadly before turning back to the game. Maurae tuned back in, breathing easier, in time to see Dwayne get knocked over from behind and sent flying towards the boards. He slid to a stop, dazed, but unhurt, got back up, and skated towards the puck, stealing it again.  
  
Ken went in, attempting to use his small size and some expert figure skating moves to split the Iceland defense, only to limp back to the bench after getting thrown into the wall. Bombay's face and voice got colder and harder as the game progressed. Iceland scored again and again, until finally, Bombay called Goldberg in. With a sigh of relief, Julie skated out to take her place.  
  
"Go get 'em, Julie!" Goldberg said as they met on the ice.  
  
"Thanks, Goldberg."  
  
She placed her stick on top of the goal as the relieved and exhausted Goldberg stepped into the team box. Maurae saw Stahl and Sanderson move to harass her.  
  
"Send in a woman to do a man's job!"  
  
"Ha ha! Don't break a nail!" Julie's shoulders stiffened, but she turned around with a sunny smile.  
  
"I'm sorry boys. But could you help me with my pads please?" Maurae shook her head as Julie knocked both of them flat.  
  
"That's intent to injure. You're out of here. Let's go, young lady," declared the ref.  
  
"See you around, fellas." She grabbed her gear and Goldberg slid back onto the ice with an eye roll and a sigh of frustration.  
  
"Thanks for the breather," he said sarcastically as they crossed paths again. Julie stepped off the ice and followed Portman's steps from earlier, disappearing into the locker room.  
  
The high point of the game was the ten minute rest period they got between the second and third periods. Bombay came and let them blow off steam to each other in the locker room.  
  
Maurae noticed Adam's wince when he took off his gloves. She sat down next to him. "Let me see it," she commanded quietly. Obediently, he let her take his injured wrist in her hands. "I don't think it's broken; you can still move your fingers, right?" He nodded. "I think you just need to tape it and got get it x-rayed after the game today. All right?"  
  
"Okay. I'll find some tape, and wrap it later."  
  
"Now," she said, reaching behind her for athletic tape. She shoved back his sleeves and pads and quickly taped the wrist. Over it, she wrapped an Ace bandage that she'd fished out of the locker room's first aid kit when no one was looking. She helped him resituate his sleeve and put the glove back on. "Better?"  
  
"Much," he replied, more to get her off his case than because it was true. The thing hurt like hell. He was being stoic.  
  
"Good. We've still got a period of hell left before we lose."  
  
He looked at her sharply. "What's wrong with you? You're never pessimistic!"  
  
"Maybe I am and you've just never seen it," she shot back. She grabbed her inhaler and took one puff. Her fall earlier hadn't helped her breathing and she needed a little help. "But, face it, Adam. We're eight points down already. You were the only one to score a goal. Dean and Julie are out for the game, everyone's exhausted. The goalie managed to catch Fulton's slap-shot. Ken's got bruised ribs, or something equally painful. I can barely breathe; your wrist is tender, Jesse's pissed off at someone in the stands, Dwayne is bruised from multiple falls. Luis is dazed from head-on collisions with various walls of both fiberglass and muscle. Face it, Ads. We're going to lose. That isn't pessimism. It's reality. I'm actually seeing it for once."  
  
He shook his head, but he had to admit that she had a point. None of it looked good. They returned to the bench, minus Julie and Portman, who had changed and left earlier, pissed off about something.  
  
The third period went worse than the rest. Iceland scored three more goals in five minutes. Iceland won twelve to one. It was a disheartened group that returned to the locker room. Julie sat in front of the TV, still in her pads, while Portman hovered behind her, eyes smoldering with anger.  
  
Bombay arrived and gathered them onto the seats and tables in the middle of the locker room. "Twelve to one, huh? Twelve...to...one. You know what word comes to mind when I think of that? PATHETIC!" They cringed back from him. "We are one loss away from elimination!"  
  
"Coach Stansson knew everything about us!" Julie said passionately in their collective defense. "THEY were ready for us!"  
  
"And what about you!" Jesse interjected.  
  
"What about me, Jesse?" Bombay reposted.  
  
"You spend all your time driving around in convertibles, or talking to all them sponsor fools," Luis put in.  
  
"Or hanging out with the Iceland lady," Fulton added quietly, obviously catching Bombay off guard. "We saw you two Saturday night."  
  
"Eating ice cream with the enemy, huh, Coach?" Dean said accusingly.  
  
"Hey...hey, what I do, is none of your business, all right?" Bombay shot back fiercely, defending himself. The team just shook their heads and started to pull off jerseys and pads. "Don't take those pads off! Everyone stay in your gear. We have practice."  
  
Shocked silence pervaded the room for a few minutes before Goldberg finally spoke up with, "Tonight?!"  
  
* * * *  
  
Exhausted, Maurae nearly fell over when Bombay whistled a halt. She collapsed against Luis and both dropped to the ice, panting with exertion. Charlie was bent over, near Bombay.  
  
"This isn't very much fun, Coach," he was saying.  
  
"Who said it was supposed to be fun?" Bombay snapped. Charlie straightened, apparently surprised.  
  
"You did...when you coached the Ducks."  
  
"I don't see any Ducks here, Charlie. All I see is Team USA, one loss away from elimination. You guys may want to go home early, but I as heck don't. Twenty more sprints! Let's go! I'll keep you here all night if I have to." Luis let Fulton haul him to his feet, and helped Dwayne get Maurae up, clutching the pain in her side. "Get back in line, Charlie."  
  
He blew the whistle and started them off again. Maurae was numb, her body on automatic. She didn't even notice when Luis grabbed her arm to tell her practice was finally over. It was almost ten-thirty, on a Saturday night. They had been practicing since six. She swayed on her skates and almost fell. Dwayne grabbed one arm, Luis the other, and Fulton pushed from behind as they worked on getting her to the locker room still conscious. She sat on her stool and merely stared about her for a moment, her exhausted body and mind not wanting to function, let alone function in tandem.  
  
Julie watched her, and watched the three solicitous boys helping her change. Luis helped her off with her skates and the thick padded pants. Fulton directed the removal of the jersey and the upper pads while Dwayne merely focused on keeping his own eyes open and keeping her on the stool. Once she was down to her stretch pants and bodysuit, they turned to their own changing and shower, leaving her in Julie's hands.  
  
Her eyes were glazed with exhaustion and pain. "I'll see if I can't get them to help you to the room so you can go to bed, okay?" she asked, smoothing back the sweaty hair. Maurae nodded and slid to the floor, too dizzy to stay on the stool without falling off.  
  
"Jules, am I weak?"  
  
"No, of course not."  
  
"Then why am I the only one close to collapse? Why am I the only one who had to have help to change?"  
  
"Because you played hard for most of the game, took a nasty fall, probably bruised some ribs, and had to practice hard for four hours after suffering a crushing defeat. And because you're already tired and in pain from other things. You're just exhausted. All of us are." She hugged her. "Just get back to the room, take a shower there, where you won't have room to fall over in exhaustion, and go to bed, okay?" Maurae nodded mutely, but didn't move.  
  
"Could you ask one of the guys to walk me there? I don't think I could handle meeting another player alone in the halls."  
  
"Of course. If I mention that, you'll have half the team walking you, leaving Guy for Connie, and the rest for me." Julie returned to her locker and pulled off her pads and things, waiting for someone to come out of the boys' shower. The first one to come was Dwayne, who looked as tired as Maurae. "Dwayne?"  
  
"Yes, Julie?" he replied politely.  
  
"Could you do me a favor and walk Maurae to our room when you're done changing? She doesn't want to run into any of the other teams' players when she's alone and as tired as she is."  
  
"Of course I will!" he exclaimed with a 'did-you-even-have-to-really-ask' tone of voice. Julie smiled her thanks and went to take her own shower. Dwayne changed swiftly and helped Maurae up, putting an arm around her shoulders.  
  
He walked her to the elevator, thinking she wasn't up for the stairs. And even if she was, he didn't think his legs could take it. They rode it up two floors to the main floor and they left the rink building, heading out for the dorms.  
  
They took the elevator to the fourth floor and he walked her to the end of the hall to the room she shared with Connie and Julie. She was coherent enough by then to find the key and unlock the door.  
  
"Thank you," she managed in a whisper. She kissed his cheek and disappeared into the room, leaving him grinning after her for a moment before he started back down the hallway to his own room.  
  
Meanwhile, Maurae had sat on the end of her bed, gathering energy to take a shower. Too tired to be sleepy, she got up and went into the bathroom, turning on the hot water and grabbing the things she'd need.  
  
She was just pulling on her sleepwear when Julie and Connie helped each other into the room, each falling facefirst onto a bed. Connie fell onto Maurae's bed and only moved when the other girl squeegeed water from her long hair onto Connie's back. Wearily, she climbed onto the top bunk and within seconds was asleep. Maurae shut off the light, having braided her hair in the bathroom, and got into the bottom bunk, asleep when she hit the pillow.  
  
Too tired to dream, and too tired to escape sleep even at the insistence of knocks at the door, the three girls slept until nearly noon the next day. Maurae woke up first, feeling grumpy, sore, and still tired. She went to the bathroom and examined her sore ribs. They had indeed been bruised in the previous night's game. She had lovely purple and black stripes running along her sides and lower chest.  
  
Julie was unharmed, and awake by the time she emerged from the bathroom, but Connie was in bad shape. No one's faces were maimed, but Connie had a bruise under her ear, on the side of her throat. Her shoulders and arms were speckled with new bruises, as colorful as Maurae's. Julie prodded her awake, having discovered the message taped to the door.  
  
"I don't believe this! It's Sunday! Our day off, for crying out loud!" She showed Maurae and the still-groggy Connie the paper. Bombay was calling them all to practice at two.  
  
"We may be 'one loss away from elimination,'" Maurae said, quoting Bombay's words from the night before. "But I'd rather be eliminated from the tournament that killed by exhaustion." Julie and Connie agreed wholeheartedly, but the three of them got dressed anyway and headed to the dining hall. No one else looked any more awake or any happier than the three girls. No one on their team anyway.  
  
"Good game last night," smirked Gunnar as he walked by, trailed by Olaf. Maurae stood slowly, her temper finally reaching and passing the boiling point to his ignition.  
  
"Shut up," she said slowly, her words dripping with scorn, fury, and complete resentment. "You think you're better than us? At least we're gracious winners. We don't parade in front of the losing team with our noses in the air, making stupid taunts. You may have bested us on the ice once, but we've bested you in manners more than once. One more crack at us about how girls aren't as good, or about how badly we did on an off night, and I will personally ensure that YOU won't be playing in our next game!" And even though she was half a foot shorted and ten pounds lighter than him, despite the fact that he was backed by Olaf, her threat carried through, and he backed off.  
  
Her teammates stared at her as she sat down, her face unreadable. None of them had ever seen her lose her temper. Most were sure that she didn't have one. And they were all shocked that she'd managed to tell off the leading scorer in the tournament, and him a lot bigger than her.  
  
She stared disdainfully after them before turning her attention to her plate. "I'm not hungry."  
  
"Eat something, or you won't make it through practice this afternoon." Adam sat next to her, watching until she ate, making sure she actually consumed something. The last thing they needed was for her to faint and Bombay to bench her for the next game.  
  
* * * *  
  
The next week was monotonous. All that week there were no games, which meant classes all day followed by grueling four-hour practices, both indoors and out. After Sunday's four-hour practice session, none of them could get enough sleep. With class, homework, practice, and conditioning sessions, none of them had time to think an independent thought. Not that they'd have been able to, exhausted as they were.  
  
Friday, Miss McKay stopped in the middle of her lecture on osmosis to wake up first Luis and then Maurae. Finally she gave up. "Go to bed, all of you. I'm canceling tonight's practice. I'm canceling tomorrow morning's inevitable practice too. Get some rest, all of you. And homework is postponed until next Friday."  
  
A weak cheer went up and they departed, showing more signs of life on their way to oblivion than they had since their loss the previous Saturday. She trudged to the locker room and sat down outside it to wait.  
  
Bombay came striding up, not even noticing her. "Okay, let's go!" he shouted, before noticing the empty locker room. He searched the showers and came back out, confused and a little angry. "Team?"  
  
"I cancelled their practice," she said firmly, making him turn to look at her.  
  
"What?"  
  
"They needed a day off."  
  
"I need them here to practice!"  
  
"Well they need to REST! You've been running those children ragged. They can barely stay awake in class...they're calling you Captain Blood!"  
  
"Do you not understand me? I am preparing these kids for battle. We win the gold, we go on to bigger things."  
  
"Bigger things?! Gordon, please! It's a game! You said it yourself, games should be fun!"  
  
Games should be fun... 


	11. Games Should Be Fun

"Games Should Be Fun"  
  
Again, Maurae was awoken by Britney. Only this time it was a song that rang true. While "Stronger" played in the background, she, Connie, and Julie gathered up their workout clothes with cheerful, but weary, smiles, slightly more rested than they had been in a week. Still exhausted but less so.  
  
Meeting at the UCLA training arenas for a workout had been a somewhat mutual decision. But that didn't mean that they were happy with said decision. Forming up in two ranks, they started an easy workout, mainly to stretch them out and strengthen their muscles.  
  
"Coach isn't here, why do we have to be?" Connie finally asked as they were all bent over, stretching their legs.  
  
"We have a game tonight; we have to work out," Dean replied.  
  
"I say mutiny; who's with me?" Goldberg asked, standing up. Dwayne straightened next to Maurae, who was letting her elbows rest on the ground wearily.  
  
"Goldberg, I'm too tired to mutiny," he said quietly.  
  
"Come on, guys. It's not like we can't use the conditioning," Julie said reasonably, trying to diffuse the argument before it started. No such luck, unfortunately.  
  
"Speak for yourself, babe," Dean said. And that's when the dam broke. Their frustrated emotions from the past week, bottled up on the shelf behind their exhaustion, had finally broken loose and found an outlet: each other. Adam stepped forward, losing his temper spectacularly.  
  
"Her name is Julie, not babe," he said coldly.  
  
"DON'T tell me how to talk, rich boy!" Dean shot back, giving Adam a shove.  
  
"Hey, Portman, chill!" Fulton shouted, darting forward to restrain his Bash Brother and defend his friend. And the situation erupted. Maurae grabbed arms, trying to pull her teammates apart, to no avail. About to use the whistle again, she was stopped by the obnoxious voice of Jesse's taunter.  
  
"Hey, Team USA! What're you gonna do today? A million jumpin' jacks?" They all turned.  
  
Dean recovered his voice first. "This kid's crazier'n' me. Forget about him!" He turned back to Fulton, but Jesse shoved through the mob.  
  
"Man, I'm gettin' sick of you!"  
  
"And I'm gettin' sick of seein' the USA represented by a bunch of whining babies!"  
  
"Well too bad you can't back up that mouth!" Jesse shot back, incensed.  
  
"Man, me and my boys will take you any time, any where."  
  
"Ha! I don't see no 'boys!'"  
  
"I got 'em waitin'. Now grab your gear, and let's go play some schoolyard puck. Unless you forgot what it's like to play for REAL pride!" Just then a guard grabbed him and started towing him backwards. "Man, whatch'ou doin'? Get off me! You comin' or not?" he yelled back to them. After a brief conference, they shrugged and went. They had nothing else to do...  
  
* * * *  
  
Team USA faced off against a bunch of street kids. One of them finally spoke. "My little brother Russ here's been tellin' me that you guys have been chokin'. Big time." Maurae bristled, her temper still raw.  
  
Jesse beat her to it. "Yeah? Well your brother's got a big mouth!" he exclaimed, almost instantly realizing that he may have gone too far. Both sides tensed for a melee. Then the speaker smiled and glanced at his brother sideways.  
  
"He does, doesn't he?" With a sigh of relief, the tension drained. "Well, we thought we'd call y'all out, see what you can do."  
  
"Yeah," spoke up Russ. "Cause we know you can talk to the press and sign autographs and stuff."  
  
"We can do more'n that," Luis said.  
  
"Well, we can teach y'all to play like the real Team USA."  
  
"Man, what would you know about it?" Dean asked angrily. Smiling smugly, the black boy only motioned for the game to begin.  
  
Facing off with the street team, most of whom were more her size, Maurae felt instantly better. This game was cleaner, healthier: less politics and more fun. A game. A simple game that was only for fun; no prizes, no strings attached, just fun, pure 'n simple. It was just what they needed to get back into the game, to remember why they'd left their home leagues to come and play as a part of the country's representative team.  
  
Maurae also had to admire their skill. Less refined than a league team, maybe, but it was astounding. Team USA was getting royally trounced by a bunch of street kids. Another face-off was starting when she skated over and nudged Charlie out. She bent and crossed sticks with Russ' older brother.  
  
"James Tyler," he said with an appreciative smile.  
  
"Just call me Ro," she replied, slipping the puck to Ken, waiting for it. She danced around James Tyler and accepted the pass from Ken, skating past several street boys to score in the trashcan being used as a goal.  
  
After several more hard-earned goals, Team USA was beginning to get their old confidence back. Not the cockiness, but the self-confidence, and their appreciation for a hard-won victory. Russ managed to pull off an amazing shot he called a knuckle puck to tie up the game when USA had gotten ahead, but the last goal was Ken's.  
  
Surprisingly, James went after Ken, to teach him a little something about defending himself. 'Stick, gloves, shirt...I'll have to remember that,' Maurae commented to herself with a grin as the two teams gathered in a group huddle in the middle of the court. When they got back on the bus to return to the dorms to get ready for the game, Maurae couldn't help but feel that she'd just played the hardest game of her life- the game where the only thing she'd won was her own pride.  
  
"That's what it was," she said as they rode back.  
  
"What?"  
  
"What we were missing. Don't you see? We were playing to win the gold, to make others think better of us. That's not the point of hockey or of any other sport, for that matter. The point is to play for yourself. To make yourself better, so that you can really start to have pride in your game." She sat back in her seat, tired but satisfied, and far less exhausted than she had been in a week. And much happier.  
  
* * * *  
  
At the game that night, they were ready. Ready to play as they had played in Minnesota, and on the court that day- as a team, as one.  
  
And then Bombay never showed. When the ref informed them that they had to either have a coach behind the bench or they'd forfeit (meaning elimination), Charlie pulled some sweet moves and convinced Miss McKay to act as their coach for the game.  
  
'She has no idea what she's doing,' Maurae thought, amused, as she waited for the call. It was an advantage for them, then, to be such a close-knit team. When McKay finally shouted the change-up, they moved smoothly, a well-oiled machine. Maurae sped out onto the ice with a smile on her face.  
  
At center-ice, Fulton, Averman, Jesse, Dwayne, and Maurae debated who would take the face-off, when Bombay walked in, blowing the Duck call. The team turned to stare at him.  
  
"Look who FINALLY decided to show up," Fulton remarked sarcastically.  
  
"No way, man, just ignore him. Come on, Averman. You take the face-off," Jesse said. The redhead nodded and the huddle broke apart. But then the call went up again, and this time in the team's box. They came back together.  
  
"What have we got to lose?" Maurae asked quietly.  
  
"Respect!" Fulton exclaimed. "He'll dump us the minute it's all over." Nonetheless, he was calling them in, and they couldn't ignore that. So, reluctantly, the six iced players skated over.  
  
"Team..." He stepped down to their level. "Guys. I'm sorry. I was wrong. I forgot about the team...and the team...is all I have. Give me one more shot. I'm back. Okay?"  
  
'We trust too easily,' Maurae thought absently as they all nodded, forgiving him already.  
  
The game went smoother after that; they won again, still alive, still in the tournament.  
  
The game was fun again.  
  
It was Sunday afternoon, and she sat on the bench between Charlie and Adam, with Jesse between her feet. Bombay, Miss McKay, and Jan, Coach's friend, stood in front of them.  
  
"I've had a lot of distractions since I've been here in LA," Bombay said. Jan handed him a cardboard him. "This is a distraction."  
  
A rounding chorus of, "He looks familiar!" and "I know that guy!" combined with laughter at that statement. Bombay handed the cardboard cutout back and struck a match, dropping it into a nearby trash barrel. "This is a fire-in-a-barrel." He reclaimed the cutout and folded it in half, stuffing it into the trashcan. "This is a distraction, in a fire-in-a-barrel. Any questions?" Only applause.  
  
Practice became practice again, and not training for the IronMan competition combined with Navy Seals training combined with imaginative torture. They improved, getting along and reliving the game.  
  
* * * *  
  
Maurae was returning from the library with her bookbag slung over one shoulder, humming along with her CD; her life was great again, and now she could stop lying to her parents in the letters she was sending them. If she'd told them what had happened in the previous week, they'd have pulled her from the team, and she knew she wouldn't have been able to handle that. Not when she was finally back into the swing of things; she'd known these people all her life, or so it seemed, and she wasn't going to jeopardize that. Not for anything. She had two best friends in Adam and Jesse, and great girl friends for the first time in Connie and Julie. She was happy with them.  
  
She didn't see him as she came around the corner and only noticed him when she ran smack into him. Looking up, she sighed. She should have known that she couldn't avoid him forever.  
  
"Maurae."  
  
"Gunnar."  
  
"Where are you going?" he asked after she'd pulled the headphones from her ears.  
  
"To my room. So excuse me," she said, knowing it wouldn't be that easy. Sure enough, after checking for her 'shadows,' he smirked down at her. She moved to duck around him, but he blocked the way. So she sighed and stood her ground. "What do you want?"  
  
"I'm not quite sure yet. You humiliated me, and threatened me, in front of the entire tournament, my team and your team included."  
  
"I lost my temper," she shrugged, not apologizing. "Now, I really have to go." He blocked her again.  
  
"What, no friendly chat?"  
  
"You aren't my friend," she said bluntly. "You aren't even close."  
  
"I'm close to you now."  
  
"That isn't the point," she said firmly. "I don't like you."  
  
"That's all right. I like you. That's enough for me. You've got spirit; you're bold. I like that."  
  
"Funny, a couple weeks ago, you were telling me I was out of my place. Now you're telling me you like that? That it turns you on? Congratulations. Now excuse me." She ducked under his arm and walked off. He grinned and followed her, falling into step behind her. She'd turned up her music and pulled out her keys, humming again.  
  
Unlocking the door, she kicked it shut behind her, not even checking to see it as she deposited her stuff. Then she turned and nearly swallowed her tongue.  
  
"So this is what a girl's room looks like. Not as much clutter as I would have expected." She shoved him backwards.  
  
"No decency? No respect? Dwayne would have your hide for that," she said, pushing him out the door. "You aren't invited. Leave me alone, Gunnar Stahl. Go away." Then she closed the door. This game of cat-and- mouse...not so fun. 


	12. Interlude I: Doing What's Right

A/N: This one's more like an interlude, a series of events that are connected. I figured I couldn't jump straight to the playoffs, now could I? That would be weird, because all of a sudden, characters would be there who weren't supposed to be, and others would be absent. Hope y'all like it, though I'm sorry it's so short.  
  
I'm having a little trouble with the dialectical aspect of the accents. I managed to get the street, but I'm not getting the Icelandic, or the Texas twang, so just know who's speaking what and imagine it.  
  
"Doing What's Right"  
  
Maurae hesitated outside Bombay's office. She knew she had to do this, for Adam's own good, but it still felt like she was betraying her best friend. She took a deep breath and knocked.  
  
"I was wondering if you were going to come in or stand there all day staring at the door," Bombay said from behind her. She jumped and turned.  
  
"Coach!"  
  
"Yes, I am. Come on in and tell me what's on your mind." She obeyed, sitting down in one of the visitors' chairs. "So..."  
  
"Coach, it's about Adam. In the game with Iceland, Olaf Sanderson...when he hit Adam with his stick, something happened to Adam's wrist. I told him to wrap it and get x-rays in the morning...but I know he didn't. For...for two reasons. The first was...well, he didn't have the time, what with the extra practices, and being so tired and all. The second was...Adam's so worried about scouts seeing him play. He'd never do anything to jeopardize his future professionally, but he just doesn't see that maybe checking his injury would be better than playing for scouts, and only making it worse. "I don't think it's broken, but I know it still hurts him. He thinks I don't notice every time he winces removing a glove, or when he sticks his arm in a bucket of ice. Or when he pops three or four painkillers at once." She paused. "I don't want to lose his trust, but I felt that the worse betrayal would be not saying anything. I'm worried about him, and how far his stoicism will extend."  
  
Bombay listened patiently and smiled when she had finished. "I'll talk to him. I won't mention your name, but I will make sure he gets his wrist x- rayed. I promise, all right?"  
  
"All right."  
  
"You did the right thing, coming to me."  
  
"I know I did..."  
  
***********************************************************  
  
"Coach, I know with Banks out, we've got a roster spot open. Remember how I always told you I'd make a better coach than a player? Well, I did some scouting for us." Charlie straightened. "Come on in! Russ Tyler, meet Coach Bombay."  
  
"Hiya, Coach," Russ said, sunny smiled. Bombay shook his head in amusement.  
  
"Russ Tyler, huh? Well, Russ, what can you do for the team?"  
  
"You've never heard of my knuckle puck?"  
  
"Knuckle puck? No."  
  
Russ and Charlie exchanged smug looks.  
  
***********************************************************  
  
Maurae knocked on Adam's door and pushed it open when he answered. "Free scribe service, reporting for duty, sir," she said, offering a mock salute. Adam's wrist had been bound immobile and rested in a sling. She smiled brightly and set her stuff down on his floor, seating herself cross-legged next to it.  
  
"Now, I assume you have the answers for me written with your left hand?" He handed her the paper and she squinted at it. "Holy Cow, Ads, we need to work on your left-handed penmanship," she teased, setting about to copy the answers down legibly on a sheet of notebook paper.  
  
"Thanks," he said when she'd finished copying all the homework in her neat handwriting.  
  
"Any time. You're my best friend."  
  
"No, not for that. Though, thanks for the homework copying thing, too. I meant, thanks, for telling Coach."  
  
"What...How did you know it was me?"  
  
"Because I know you. You wouldn't have been able to keep your mouth shut about it if you really thought it was a problem, and you've kept bugging me about getting it x-rayed. Then you stopped badgering me, and suddenly Bombay comes to talk to me. I'm the ace math student, remember? I put two and two together..."  
  
"And came up with four. You're welcome." 


	13. Playons and Playoffs

A/N: Don't kill me. I haven't seen the movie in a while, so if I mess up the order they go in, or some of the lines, that's my defense, okay? I only remember that Dean goes first and Bombay goes last. I don't remember who scored what goal in which order, I only remember that Adam scored one, Ken scored one, Fulton scored one, Russ scored one, and Luis scored one. Sorry.  
  
"Playons and Playoffs"  
  
"Coach, shouldn't we have our hockey gear on?" Luis asked, putting his Miami-boy hands back in his pockets.  
  
"Guys, this is our last team practice. And that means-"  
  
"The return of Captain Blood," Averman cut in, grinning. Bombay laughed.  
  
"No. That means, let's have some fun!" He tossed a beach ball onto the ice and, grinning, they chased it. Maurae and a few other skated lazily round the rink for a few minutes.  
  
"Geez, my hands are cold," Luis groused, pulling them out of his pockets and blowing on them again.  
  
"You big baby," she laughed, reaching for them and enclosing one in both of hers. Gently, she raised them to her mouth and blew warm air on them. Luis' hand slowly warmed and she took the other one, repeating the process, unsure of whether she was flirting or simply helping out a friend. "Better?"  
  
"Thanks," he said, smiling. He tucked them back into his pockets. "Still used to Miami air, I guess."  
  
"Don't melt the ice with all this steam, you two," Jesse teased as he skated between them. Glancing at each other, they traded eye messages and then took off after Jesse like two shots from the same gun. Jesse squeaked and tried to hide behind various teammates, who shoved him away, laughing. Then everybody got in on it, chasing Jesse around the rink.  
  
Someone knocked into her from behind, sending Maurae tumbling and sliding, laughing all the while, across the rink with the beach ball. Then she looked up and swallowed, digging in her blades to bring herself to a stop shy of the Iceland ranks. She hurriedly got up, brushed herself off and skated easily backwards to join her team.  
  
Stansson picked up the beach ball and popped it, tossing it aside and skating forward, followed synchronously by his team.  
  
"We have the ice now. You and your little 'rink rats' must leave." They bristled.  
  
"The only thing little was your career in the pros," Bombay shot back, inciting a ripple of nervous giggles from his team.  
  
"At least I had my shot. I was there."  
  
"You were a disgrace!"  
  
"Gordon, no. Come on, let's go." Bombay looked at Miss McKay and sighed.  
  
"Come on, team, we're out of here." They hesitated. "Let's go, I said!"  
  
"Can you still move on the ice? Then please, play a little with me. Show me that famous triple deke that your daddy taught you...or was it that old geezer over there?" Eyes turned to Jan, in the back. "Maria!" The trainer tossed him a stick, which he, in turn, tossed to Bombay, who caught it and examined it before turning a glare back on him.  
  
"Triple bar. First one to hit both posts and the crossbar. You have to take it out past the blue line."  
  
"I know the game."  
  
Reluctantly, they backed off and watched from the side as the two coaches faced off. On his first shot, Stansson hit both posts. On Bombay's first shot, he hit the left post, then he stole the puck from Stansson and hit the right. It was his start and he knocked Stansson over.  
  
"One more post, and you go home crying. By the way, Stansson, you owe me a beach ball." Bombay took off and Stansson got up, going after him. Knowing that he couldn't win, and not willing to lose that much face in front of his team, he took a cheap shot and swung his stick at Bombay's recently injured knee, dropping him with a resounding cry of pain to the ice, his leg collapsed under him.  
  
The Bash Brothers helped Bombay to his feet, surrounded by the rest of them.  
  
"Get your coach off the ice," Stansson ordered imperiously. "We have to practice now." Trading glares with Iceland, USA helped Bombay off the ice and onto an ice pack.  
  
Maurae's eyes were hardened steel as she trailed the rest of her team from the rink. Meeting Gunnar's eyes squarely, her look plainly said, 'No mercy. You're mine, and you're going down.' Then she was gone, through the doors to the locker rooms.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
The playoff game was going to be a hard game. After playing Iceland once before, they had a healthy respect for the Vikings' brutality. But they'd been training for this, getting back to the fundamentals of hockey and teamwork, focusing on one sole thought: it was only a game.  
  
When you play to win, you're headed for an inevitable disappointment. When you play for a love of the game, you can't lose. It was the idea that Iceland hadn't really accepted completely.  
  
Changing in the locker room that morning, Maurae felt sick to her stomach. She'd never been so nervous before a game before, and she wasn't the only one. Jesse was ashen under his chocolate skin, and Charlie looked faint. Slowly pulling on their pads, the locker room chatter, usually high and ebullient, was subdued and sparse. Straightening from tying her skates, Maurae was the first to notice Adam's unexpected presence. Then she noticed his sling was missing.  
  
"Coach!" he exclaimed, striding confidently into the room.  
  
"Banks?" they chorused.  
  
"I woke up...and the pain was gone." He rotated a hockey stick easily, the smile never leaving his face, his eyes still bright. Maurae smiled in relief.  
  
"Adam, I'm sorry, but we already have a full roster." Several people turned their heads towards Russ, who started to pull his jersey off. Charlie stopped him.  
  
"He can have my spot," he said slowly. Walking forward, he stood by his best friend. "If it's what I could do for the team...I would do it." Adam smiled and grabbed his shoulder in silent thanks.  
  
"Charlie, I want you on the bench, coaching right there with me." They broke out into applause and Maurae felt her stomach settle slightly. Adam grinned at her as he set his stuff down next to his locker and started to change.  
  
"I'm glad you're better, Adam," she said, pulling her jersey on over her pads. "It hasn't been the same since...since I told Bombay about your wrist."  
  
"It's good to be back in the game, Ro," he replied, pulling off his jacket. She grinned and grabbed her stuff, following the others out to the ice for warm-ups. Skating back and forth for a few minutes, she and the others contemplated their opponents.  
  
Bigger, stronger, faster...Iceland was tough, but they didn't have the spirit and the love of the game that the Ducks held close to their hearts. They cared about winning, and naught else.  
  
From the face-off, the game was feared to be simply a repeat of the last clash between the two teams. Iceland got the puck and started to throw their considerable weight around.  
  
After a second vicious check into the boards by two of the Iceland defensemen, Maurae limped back to the box and let Bombay pull her helmet off as she wheezed and held her sides. "Are you all right?"  
  
"I just need a breather."  
  
"Let me know when you're ready to go back in." She nodded, focused on the game. Iceland obviously thought she was delicate. She snorted. 'Yeah, as delicate as tempered steel,' she thought. She poured a bit of water into her mouth and sat, watching the game. Iceland scored, then scored again.  
  
Then Adam got a shot off that slipped past the goalie. Russ went in to try his shot only to be knocked down by three men. He came back and Iceland scored again, regaining their two-goal lead.  
  
Maurae told Bombay to put her back in just as he called a time out. Charlie explained his idea to them and Maurae shook her head in amazement. The boy was creative; Bombay had made him captain for a reason.  
  
He sent her out onto the ice with Ken, Dwayne, Fulton, and Adam. Maurae stayed back in her own zone, in case something went wrong with the play, and watched as Dwayne exercised his particular brand of excellence, tossing the puck up into the air and skating past the awed Vikings who followed the black cylinder with their eyes. Fulton waited by the net for it to land and shot it in through the goalie's legs. Cheering, Maurae collided with Dwayne and hugged him.  
  
"That was brilliant," she said.  
  
Recovering their morale, the Ducks played a spectacular second period, despite the fact that they only scored once, and Iceland scored once. One goal away from a tie, Bombay changed the line-up and Maurae returned to the bench.  
  
"Be careful out there, Connie," she said, in sync with Charlie, who smiled at her.  
  
"They're gunning for you," he added.  
  
"Don't worry, I'll be fine." She skated in and managed to chase the puck into a wall. Trying to clear it, she scrabbled with the wall and the churned-up ice, not seeing Olaf Sanderson coming up behind her at top speed. On the bench, Dwayne was suddenly up and out, swinging his lasso over his head.  
  
"I'm comin', Connie!" he shouted just as he let fly. The loop slipped over Olaf's head and stopped him in his tracks, just shy of Connie. Dwayne reeled him in. "Get up here. Where I come from, we treat ladies with respect!"  
  
"Thank you, Dwayne. But I'm no lady," Connie said, grinning at her friend. "I'm a Duck, HA!" She shoved Olaf down again.  
  
"Way to go, you little filly," Dwayne said as the ref towed him to the penalty box. Maurae hid a smile and winked at him as he went past. He grinned in response. Bombay rolled his eyes.  
  
"This isn't a hockey game, it's a circus," he mourned. Glancing at the clock, the period was almost over.  
  
"Urgh," Maurae grunted as she sat on her stool.  
  
"Did you all enjoy that?"  
  
"Yeah!" they chorused.  
  
"Good, because so did they. They're still two points up, and we're one period away from defeat."  
  
"Well, if we can't win, we might as well keep our pride," Jesse protested.  
  
"Jesse, that's not pride. Sure, when Dwayne roped that big oaf, part of me cheered. But guys, I've been there. I wanted to CREAM that jerk that busted my knee when I played in the minors. And I really, really wanted to go after Stansson for that cheap shot. But you know what? My knee will heal. And if I sink to their level...if I become something I'm not...well, then I've lost more than my pride." Sobering speech, but it hit home. "You!" he said suddenly, pointing straight at Dean. "Who are you?"  
  
"Dean Portman," he replied uncertainly.  
  
"From where?"  
  
"Chicago, Illinois."  
  
"You, who are you?"  
  
"Guy Germaine."  
  
"From where?"  
  
"St. Paul, Minnesota."  
  
"You."  
  
"Julie Gaffney, from Bangor, Maine."  
  
"You."  
  
"Maurae Grabeklis, from Aurora, Colorado."  
  
"You."  
  
"Fulton Reed, Stillwater, Minnesota."  
  
"Adam Banks, Edina, Minnesota."  
  
"Russ Tyler, South-Central, Los Angeles."  
  
"Ken Wu, San Francisco, California."  
  
"Dwayne Robertson, Austin, Texas."  
  
"Charlie Conway, Minneapolis, Minnesota."  
  
"Greg Goldberg, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."  
  
"Luis Mendoza, Miami, Florida."  
  
"Jesse Hall, Minneapolis, Minnesota."  
  
"Connie Moreau, Minneapolis, Minnesota."  
  
"Michele McKay, Duluth, Minnesota."  
  
"And I'm Gordon Bombay, Minneapolis, Minnesota." Applause and cheers erupted through the locker room. When it died down, he spoke again. "We're Team USA, gathered from all across America. And we'll stick together. You know why?"  
  
"Because we are Ducks, and Ducks fly together." Bombay turned and smiled.  
  
"That's right, Jan. And just when you think they're about to break apart?"  
  
"Ducks fly together!"  
  
"And when the wind blows hard and the sky is black?" Miss McKay chimed in.  
  
"Ducks fly together!"  
  
Dwayne, being helpful, added his two cents. "And when the roosters are crowin' and the cows are spinning circles in the pastures?"  
  
"Um, okay...Ducks fly together!"  
  
"And when everyone says it can't be done...Ducks fly together."  
  
"Now," Jan said. "New Ducks, and old Ducks must unite under a new banner. And I thought...perhaps, something like this."  
  
Maurae gasped in surprise when the new uniform jerseys were revealed. "Awesome," she breathed, accepting her new equipment. Faster than normal, the USA Ducks changed from their old colors to their new, not even noticing that the girls were changing with the boys for once. They were team, and they didn't care about gender specifics any more.  
  
Walking back out into the arena, the cheers were deafening. Out on the ice again, they noticed that their uniforms were getting a lot of attention. Stansson declared that it was ridiculous, but as there was no rule against it...  
  
Gathered around and in the bench box, they joined hands in the middle. "Ready?...Quack...quack..." The chant was quickly picked up by the team and the crowd until it echoed throughout the arena, drowning out whatever Iceland was doing to boost spirits. "GOOOOO DUCKS!!!" They shouted, amid cheers and screams enough to shatter glass.  
  
The third period was not as much of a melee as it might have been. Iceland, over-confident, tried unsuccessfully to score. The first goal was scored by Russ. Although covered by three men at all times on the ice, Bombay had disguised Russ as Goldberg in order to let him get his shot off, to Stansson's dismay.  
  
The Ducks erupted in screams and curses when Olaf slammed his stick into Adam's arm, bringing him back to the bench with a short cry of pain. Sitting next to him, Maurae yanked off his glove as Bombay pulled off his helmet. "Are you all right?" she asked, deeply concerned.  
  
"It's all right. He just hit the pad." He looked up, eyes clear. "I swear." Bombay clapped Adam's shoulder and left him with Maurae. He met her eyes squarely. "I swear."  
  
"I know." She squeezed his hand and released him, turning back to the game. Time was quickly winding down.  
  
Luis got control of the puck and took off down the ice. Attempting one last time to stop, but prepared to take the puck with him into the goal, he stopped abruptly in a fantastic spray of ice shavings and grinned, enthused.  
  
"I stopped!"  
  
"Put it in, Luis!" Bombay shouted. The speedster obeyed and the game was tied as the buzzer went off.  
  
"A shootout." Charlie's voice was quiet, yet confident.  
  
It was decided that Fulton, Adam, Dwayne, Jesse and Maurae would take the five shots (A/N: Sorry, Guy!) Jesse went first, putting his shot away, no trouble. Goldberg was unable to block the incoming Iceland shot, either. Dwayne went next, and missed. Goldberg caught the next one. Then Fulton went, and scored. Goldberg missed again.  
  
Maurae clasped hands with Adam and Jesse before slipping her hand into her glove and skating out to center ice. She nudged the puck with her toe and pushed it out. Dodging around the Iceland goalie's defense, she shot it to ricochet off his stick, into the net. Knees weakened in relief, she skated back to the bench, meeting Gunnar's eyes with a blank, confident expression before being swarmed over by her teammates.  
  
Goldberg missed the next shot, and it was Adam's turn. Rotating his wrist experimentally, he glanced back at the bench. Meeting Charlie's eyes, he watched his captain and friend nod, then Miss McKay, then Bombay. Last, his eyes went to Maurae. She smiled her encouragement and nodded, mouthing, "You can do it, Adam."  
  
He did, too. Past the goalie, into the net and the whole arena erupted in shouts of triumph. Bombay bent to Julie as Gunnar Stahl stepped out to center ice.  
  
"Julie, you've got the fast glove. I know this kid's move. Triple deke, glove side. Anticipate it, and you got him."  
  
"What if he goes stick side?"  
  
"He's fancy; he'll go glove." He patted her shoulder and sent to her out, much to the consternation of the arena.  
  
"Go get 'em, Julie!" Goldberg said encouragingly as she took his place.  
  
"Thanks, Goldberg." She slapped both posts and turned to face the burly teenager, who shook his head, amused.  
  
They watched and waited with bated breath, hoping that Julie would catch it, hoping that they would win. He deked once, twice, three times and stopped. His shot whished through the air and silence fell as Julie went to her knees. Slowly, she stood up and flicked her wrist, tossing the puck from her glove to the ice. And the stadium exploded. The Ducks flooded out onto the ice, gathering around Julie, celebrating.  
  
Adam skated out to Charlie and handed him the American flag, which the captain waved around over his head, running carefully on the ice. Finally, someone took it from him as they skated their victory laps, meeting in the middle to shake hands with the Vikings.  
  
Second to last, Gunnar stopped her. "You played well. Excellent game."  
  
"Thank you," she said, smiling. "You didn't do so bad yourself." Then she squeezed his hand and moved off, throwing herself at Julie and Connie, spinning the three of them in dizzy circles.  
  
After the refs delivered the trophy, the Ducks gathered around Bombay, the crowd quacking giddily. "Come on, Ducks! We're going home!" he shouted, thrusting the trophy into the air. 


	14. Camp Out

"Camp Out"  
  
Maurae was in the guest room at Adam's house again, packing her remaining things back into the suitcase. She paused when she came to the numerous small packages she'd received from her teammates.  
  
Sitting down, she drew the first into her lap and carefully unwrapped it. From Les and Greg, it was a book of jokes and a small box of sour fruit jelly beans (her favorite candy). She smiled fondly and packed both into her carry-on. Next came a brightly wrapped package from Julie and Connie. It was a clear box filled with different make-up, with a note taped to the top: For your fabulous appreciation of color. She put it in her suitcase. From Dean and Fulton she received a CD: Evanescence. She raised an eyebrow, but packed it with her CD player in her carry-on. Luis and Ken had wrapped their individual presents and tied them together with the present from Jesse and Guy. Luis had given her a hockey stick charm for her charm bracelet; Ken had given her an address book decorated with stickers from pro hockey teams, making all the others write down their contact information in it before wrapping it. Jesse had given her a new journal, decorated with his hockey card duplicates on the front and back covers (laminated, too). Guy had pasted a photo of the team on the inside of the cover and drawn a duck in hockey equipment on the first page. She packed all three of these in her carry-on, attaching the charm to the bracelet first. Dwayne had told her she was the hardest for him to shop for. He'd handed her the beautifully wrapped box, hugged her, and practically run away. She pulled the small box onto her lap and immediately guessed (as she had with Luis') that it was a jewelry box. Sure enough, once she'd pulled the paper off, the black velvet of the necklace box became visible. She swallowed and opened it, gasping in astonishment. Not a necklace at all, it was a locket bracelet. In each of the seven locket links were two pictures, save in the last one, where there was one, and another note: Pictures last forever.  
  
She immediately clasped it around her wrist, opposite her charm bracelet. She wiped her suspiciously wet eyes and reached for the final package. It was from Charlie and Adam and Jesse, her best friends. She opened it, carefully trying not to tear the paper. Inside lay a beautifully framed photograph of she and the three boys, from their victory celebration after the playoffs game three weeks before. The whole team had changed back to street clothes and pulled on their new Ducks jerseys on over shirts. Maurae stood grinning, her arms around Adam and Jesse's waists, their arms around her shoulders, with Charlie kneeling at their feet, holding the trophy. All four were grinning blissfully.  
  
No longer suspiciously wet, her eyes now released a flood worthy of Niagara Falls. She pulled her legs up and buried her face in the picture on her legs, sobbing. The bed sank next to her and Adam hugged her tightly.  
  
"We'll keep in touch. I'll come out and visit you, and we'll stay friends. Come on, Ro, don't cry."  
  
"I can't help it. I feel like I'm leaving forever, like I've known you all my life. I don't know how I'll go back to being me in Colorado..." She turned and tried a smile. "You're my best friend, Ads."  
  
"And you mine. We didn't give you that picture to cry over, you know. We gave it so you'd always remember the happy moments."  
  
"I know. Thank you. I'll hang it up as soon as I get home."  
  
"Hold off on those plans, princess. Bombay wants us all on the porch," Charlie said, following Jesse into the room. She shook her head and smiled weakly.  
  
"Coming." She put the picture on top of the carry-on and let them lead her out of the room. Philip and Kelly Banks had decided to have a barbeque to celebrate the Ducks' win, and to say goodbye to their houseguest. Newly thirteen years old, Maurae was supposed to be flying back to Denver in a few days. She sat cross-legged on a chair and the three boys sat down on the bench next to her.  
  
"Good, now that we're all here, I have something I would like to tell you. I have the plane tickets for those of you who are shipping out soon. That is number one. Number two is this: We are going on a victory camp-out tomorrow night." He waited out the sudden chatter. "And number three. You fourteen will be going to high school in two years, and Eden Hall Academy, my alma mater, is offering you full-ride athletic scholarships for the four years you are in high school."  
  
Maurae sat stunned. She almost didn't believe what she was hearing. A full-ride to a school that even she had heard of? Her parents might not jump at the opportunity, but they would certainly push her towards it.  
  
She rose up to the campgrounds in a giant van, squished between Dean and a window. First in, last out, so she waited patiently while the others untangled their gear and got out, heading for the campground. Maurae was just glad to get out of the van. Dean had been getting heavier as the bumps in the road increased.  
  
She was last out and stood under the massive trees, just looking around before she joined the throng to collect her stuff from the van. She shouldered her backpack and grabbed her sleeping bag and followed the leader through the trees.  
  
"Hey, Les?" she called up to Averman, two people ahead of her. He turned around to walk backwards.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"You have any good ghost stories?" she asked.  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Good. Keep them to yourself tonight!" Several people laughed, including Averman, who turned his face forward again, just in time to trip over a tree root. That made everyone laugh, including him.  
  
"That will teach me to walk backwards through the woods," he groused, mock- petulant. The short hike resumed after Dwayne and Goldberg had hauled him to his feet. Dwayne dropped back to walk with her at the end of the line.  
  
"I can't believe we're all going home next week," she said softly, trying not to look at him. He smiled slightly. "It just seems like it's all been some sort of a dream, you know? Or maybe a nightmare, what with Adam's sprained wrist, and all the exhaustion and brutality from the Vikings."  
  
"Winning was fun, though, admit it," he said. "Even after we'd assured ourselves it didn't matter."  
  
"Winning was sweet. But the friends I made...that was really the only part that mattered. I'll always remember that." She held up her wrist, the one that bore the locket bracelet he'd given her. "After all, pictures are forever." He pulled her hand through the crook of his arm and grinned.  
  
"Yup, pictures last a thousand years and more. I wanted you to remember us. That was before I found out we'd be coming back here for high school. Another four years together."  
  
"Yeah," she said, subdued, not knowing how her family would react to the announcement. Besides, it was still a year and a half away. She decided not to worry about it just then. "So, camping. I haven't been camping since Brownies," she declared, pushing her sobering thoughts to the back of her mind.  
  
"Me neither. Though not the Brownies stuff. I like to sleep out sometimes, but never actual camping."  
  
"Good, then I'm not alone."  
  
"Oh, I doubt any of us city kids have been camping very recently either, Ro," Jesse said, swinging his arm up over her shoulders. Dwayne shot him a momentary glare before fixing his smile back in place. People may have thought of him as some dumb hick, but he was smart. He hated big words; they confused him. And for some reason, since he was always cheerful, no matter his real mood, people took it for granted that he was stupid. Maurae didn't, obviously. But everyone else thought he was something like the village idiot, seeing as he was a Texan. A proud Texan, too.  
  
"Good. I won't feel like such an idiot," she said, handing him her sleeping bag and using her newly freed hand to peel her best friend's from her shoulders. "Now, mind respecting my space?"  
  
"Is somebody in a bad mood again?" Jesse teased.  
  
"No, somebody is very happy today, so long as somebody else doesn't ruin said happiness. Besides, you're such a big strong man, surely carrying my sleeping bag won't be too much trouble for you," she teased right back. Jesse glanced at Dwayne, then at Maurae and shook his head.  
  
"No trouble. I wouldn't want you to strain your pretty little self, carrying this big, heavy sleeping bag."  
  
"Good. Thanks for carrying it. Don't drop it." She grinned and blew him a kiss. Jesse smiled and left, trotting to catch back up to Charlie and Adam, near the front of the pack.  
  
Maurae yawned and Goldberg threw a marshmallow at her, which, naturally, started a marshmallow war. Fortunately, they got themselves under control before they'd ruined too many marshmallows.  
  
Then Dwayne, on her left, started to strum a tune familiar to them all, and Averman started singing. On the chorus, they all joined in, doing a particular kind of sit-down dance routine. Lots of stomping feet and swaying. Maurae laughed along with the others, but she sang as loud and danced as fast as her friends.  
  
It was almost eleven when the caffeine-deprived adults decided to retire to the camper trailered to the back of Bombay's van. The kids eagerly sat in a closer circle around the fire. "Ghost stories?" Maurae asked, shooting Averman a look.  
  
"Better," Portman said, smirking. "Truth or Dare?"  
  
Maurae buried her crimson face in her hands, muttering something no one caught. Then she looked up. "Well, you've been evil since I met you. Why would our last night together be any different?" she asked rhetorically. "All right. Bring it on." Portman rubbed his hands together eagerly.  
  
"Me first," he said. "Fulton, truth or dare?"  
  
"No way, dude. Dare."  
  
"All right. Strip and go jump in the lake." Fulton got up, walked down the hill to the water and started to strip. The others followed him with their flashlights. Fulton did as he'd been told and jumped in the lake. As soon as he got out, Charlie, laughing hysterically, tossed him a blanket and they left him in peace to dress. A few minutes later, he reappeared, his hair still wet with lakewater. He sat next to the fire and pulled on a sweater over his t-shirt.  
  
"You're dead for that later, Portman," he said. "So...who's next...? Julie, truth or dare?"  
  
"Truth," she replied promptly.  
  
"Have you ever wanted to make out with a Bash Brother?"  
  
"Of course. Why do you think I was kissing Portman?" she replied. It was so quiet, they could hear the waves hit the lakeshore. Maurae coughed, hiding her laughter. Julie raised an eyebrow. "All right, the next victim will be Ro, then. Truth or Dare?"  
  
Everyone fully expected her to choose truth; she hated dares, and she normally didn't believe in them. "Dare." Open-mouthed, Julie immediately had to revise her question into a dare.  
  
"Dare...dare...you wanted to make this difficult, didn't you?"  
  
"Just being unpredictable," she retorted with a grin.  
  
"Fine...kiss Charlie. We'll make it easy."  
  
"That just complicates it. What kind of kiss would be appropriate to fulfill my dare?" Maurae retorted. Julie smiled wickedly.  
  
"What do you think?" Maurae's eyes widened, Dwayne snapped a stick in half and Charlie's jaw dropped. Then Maurae gave her friend a nod and a smile, acknowledging the challenge in Julie's voice that only she or Connie would have recognized.  
  
"You're good, Jules. I'll give you that much." Maurae got up and deposited herself in Charlie's lap. "This isn't going to hurt, Spazway," she said affectionately before pressing her lips to his. Not knowing what to do with his hands, exactly, he wrapped his arms around her back and returned the kiss. Maurae pulled back, her face a deeper crimson than any of them had ever seen. She got up and returned to her former place, still flushed. "Luis, truth or dare?"  
  
"Hold on, chica. Just give me a minute to wrap my mind around what I just saw..."  
  
"Aw, I'm bored of this anyway," Adam said. "Let's do something else."  
  
"Flashlight tag," Russ said. There was a round of agreement, and Maurae shook her head, amused. She got up, dusting off her jeans and turned on her flashlight.  
  
"Luis is it," she said.  
  
"Why me?"  
  
"You managed to squirrel out of Truth or Dare, dude," Portman pointed out. Luis nodded reluctantly and grinned, sitting down again. Fulton dropped the slightly damp blanket over his head and the team split in fourteen different directions. Maurae had her flashlight on low power so no one would be able to track her. She walked a while aimlessly, letting her feet run on automatic. She finally found a tree behind which three or four of them could hide and grinned, switching off her light. She could still see the glow of the campfire, so she knew she wasn't too far from them. She sat with her back against the tree bole, half-listening to the sounds her friends were making. The other half of her attention, or rather, most of her attention, was focused on what had just happened.  
  
Kissing Charlie, she'd felt nothing. It was like kissing her brothers goodnight, or kissing Adam goodnight, which she'd done. Those two, and Jesse, were her dearest friends, but they were her brothers. She couldn't have any romantic feelings for them. She sighed softly and shrugged.  
  
Someone shone a flashlight in her face briefly. "Mind if I join you?" asked Dwayne's soft Texas drawl.  
  
"Of course. There's plenty of room." Despite that statement, he sat down right next to her. They sat there in silence that was somehow awkward. "Dwayne, are you all right? You seem...tense, or something."  
  
"You..." He took a deep breath. "It's not important."  
  
"What did I do?"  
  
"You kissed Charlie."  
  
"Oh." It was slowly dawning on her. Her friend liked her. More than a friend liked her. He was jealous! "Dwayne, truth or dare?"  
  
"Does it matter?" he asked.  
  
"Truth, then. Dwayne, do you like me?"  
  
"Of course. You're my teammate." She could tell he was edging away from the topic.  
  
"Dwayne...as more than a friend?"  
  
Another heavy sigh. "Yes," he said in a small voice. She sat back against the tree again. How did she feel about that?  
  
Well, if the floating feeling in her stomach was any indication, she returned those feelings. 'I do believe I am experiencing my first crush,' she thought to herself. She smiled, an idea taking shape. She rested her hand on the arm of his jean jacket, lightly. She leaned over and kissed his cheek.  
  
"Oh," she repeated softly. "I thought you might." In the very scant light from the moon, Dwayne turned to look at her.  
  
"Well, I do."  
  
"Good. Now kiss me, please." He grinned and obeyed, holding her face gently between his hands. Now he had that floating feeling in his own stomach.  
  
"Found them!" Jesse's voice shouted, and a flashlight was shone in their faces. "Oh. Um, NEVER MIND! Continue, please. Just pretend I was never here," he stammered, spinning away and crashing through the underbrush. Maurae laughed and looked down slightly. Dwayne grinned and shook his head. He touched his lips to hers again, gently, once.  
  
"We've been caught. Come on, let's go back." He got up and lifted her to her feet, holding her hand as he led her back to the campfire.  
  
"So, who's it this time?" Maurae asked, her face red, as she and Dwayne broke through the tree cover. The rest of the team was crowded around the campfire. "Man, word travels fast around here," she remarked softly to Dwayne.  
  
"Are you two...I mean..."  
  
"I should have dared her to kiss Dwayne," Julie said, smiling.  
  
"Charlie and I are just friends," Maurae said, shrugging again. Adam opened his mouth to add himself to the list. "So is Adam, and Jess, and...well, take a roll call," she added, beating Adam to it. She squeezed Dwayne's hand then, to let him know he was exempt from that roll call.  
  
"Well..." was all Portman could manage. They all laughed and settled around the campfire for Averman's ghost stories. Maurae and Dwayne held hands until they went to bed.  
  
A/N: Thanks soooooo much to antiIRONY for her wonderful ideas for "party games." You're the awesomest! Your wish is granted. The romance is given, and I hope it's accepted.  
  
The next chapter is going to be the airport/departure for the out-of-state Ducks. I hope you guys like it. It MIGHT be possible, however remotely, that I won't update for a while; finals are next week. 


	15. Fly Away Home

"Fly Away Home"  
  
Maurae hugged Julie goodbye and watched her friend get onto the plane bound for Bangor, Maine. Julie was the third to leave. Ken and Russ had left three hours ago, on the same plane, bound for San Francisco so that Russ could meet Ken's family before he went home to his own in Los Angeles.  
  
Luis was scheduled to leave next. Portman wasn't leaving for another month; he was spending the beginning of the summer with Fulton and his family in Stillwater before he went back to Chicago.  
  
After that, she was leaving and Dwayne twenty minutes later. After Julie's plane took off, the remaining team members traversed the terminal to get to Luis' gate, where they bid goodbye to him. Maurae was, again, the last to give him a hug. She kissed his cheek, as she'd done with Julie, Russ and Ken already.  
  
"You have to promise to write to me if I write to you," Luis said, squeezing her hand.  
  
"I promise," she said, blinking. Luis swiped at his own eyes with the back of his hand. "Bye, Luis."  
  
"Bye, chica. Take care of yourself. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."  
  
"Okay." Luis smiled and waved, boarding the plane without looking back. Maurae's spirits sank just a little farther. It was going to be her turn in a little over an hour. They trooped to her gate as soon as Luis' plane had taxied out and she flopped down onto a plastic chair.  
  
Dwayne sat on one side of her and took her hand. Adam sat on the other. "I'll write every day this summer," he promised. "And I'll try to write at least once a week when school starts."  
  
"Have you found out which PeeWees team you're playing for?"  
  
"I don't care what happens, anymore. I won't play for anyone but the Ducks. My best friends in the whole world."  
  
"I'm going back to playing for the Eagles for a season. I don't know quite how I'll manage it, though. I hope my parents will go for this whole scholarship thing. I would so love to come back here in a year or so and play with you guys again."  
  
"You will, babe. Your parents will go for it. They went for the whole Team USA thing."  
  
"That was six months of one year, not nine months every year for four!" She took a deep breath. "Especially if they ask the opinions of my brothers. Neither one of them likes it when I'm gone." She sighed. "When I got here, I thought it would never be over. I was counting the days, and dreading each one. But now...I'm counting the days, dreading each one, and wishing like hell that I was staying with you guys." Dwayne squeezed her hand.  
  
"It'll be all right, darlin'. The time will pass before you know it, and then we'll be back here, picking you up from the airport to move into the new school." She nodded and leaned onto his shoulder. He put that arm around her and held her hand with the other, his lips touching her hair. They were both only thirteen, and already acting older than that.  
  
'Boarding call for rows twenty-five through twenty. Twenty-five through twenty.' Maurae tensed but didn't otherwise move. She was in row three, first class. She would have boarded when they called first class, but she couldn't bear to leave them yet. She needed more time.  
  
'Boarding rows fifteen and above now, rows fifteen and above.' Dwayne tensed then. Maurae smiled and sat up, still holding his hand tightly.  
  
"I can do this. I won't like it, but I can do it. Conditioning camp starts next week."  
  
"And you figure if you throw yourself into as many activities as possible, you'll do all right?" Adam teased.  
  
"Exactly." She stood up.  
  
'Boarding rows ten and above, now, please. Ten and above.' Maurae picked up her messenger bag/carry-on and strapped it across her chest. Everyone stood with her. She held out her hand to Bombay; she'd told him the night of the camp-out that she didn't want to see the boarding pass until she was getting on the plane. Except for asking the seat number and row, she had kept to that. Bombay placed it in her hand and hugged her. She sniffed and hugged him back.  
  
Jesse hugged her and kissed her cheek, promising to try and remember to write. Portman hugged her, kissed her cheek and patted her head, making her smile. Fulton did the same thing. Averman, Goldberg, Guy, and Connie all hugged and kissed her goodbye before backing up hurriedly. Adam and Charlie took her hands and they made a three-way hug that lasted a good minute, maybe more.  
  
'Boarding all rows now. All rows, please.'  
  
Tears started to flow down her cheeks when she let go of her two favorite friends. Adam kissed one wet cheek, and Charlie the other, neither able to tell whether they tasted her tears or theirs. Then she turned to Dwayne, who smiled bravely and handed her his handkerchief. She wiped her eyes and blew her nose. He didn't reach for it and she clutched at it.  
  
"Keep it, to remember me by. Give it back in a year, when you get off that plane." He cupped her face and smiled, kissing her forehead. "I'll miss you."  
  
"Oh, Dwayne!" She buried her face in his chest. The intercom began to call for standby passengers. She pulled back and kissed him in a way that thoroughly shocked them both. "To remember me by," she whispered when she'd pulled back.  
  
'All right. May Evans, standby May Evans. Last call for Maurae Grabeklis.' She bit her lip.  
  
"I'll see you, I promise."  
  
'May Evans, your standby number is called.'  
  
"Wait! I'm here! I'm here!" Maurae called, one last long look at her friends, her team, her new family. She then turned and strode for the gate, still clutching the handkerchief in her hand, tears wetting her cheeks. "I'm here," she said, walking in front of a petite redhead who glared daggers at her. The flight hostess didn't look too pleased either. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience."  
  
"Inconvenience?! You were late. They called your name twice, your row three times, and now you show up, when they're placing me in a seat! You can't just do that!"  
  
"I'm afraid she can, ma'am. That is what holding a ticket does for a passenger," interrupted a man's voice. He took Maurae's ticket, nudged the flight hostess out of the way and scanned it. "If you'll come with me," he said, offering his arm. Maurae hid a smirk; he couldn't have been beyond twenty, and he was no doubt trying to flirt with her. She twisted and waved vigorously at her friends.  
  
"I'll see you in a year! You'd better write! All y'all!"  
  
"He's turning you into a Texan, Ro!" Jesse shouted back, grinning.  
  
"Damn straight!" She winked at Dwayne and blew him a kiss and then she was gone. The man led her to her seat and saw her settled.  
  
"If there is anything I can do for you, let me know," he said solicitously. She nodded her thanks and pulled out her CD player once he was gone.  
  
"This is going to be a long flight," she whispered to herself. She pulled out the journal from Guy and Jesse and started to write. 


	16. Eagles Fly, But Not Together

A/N: So, I figure 15 chapters per movie, if I'm lucky. Actually, I dunno how many the second part of my little series will take. I would like to get your input now. If I continue the story after the events in D3, like maybe their sophomore and senior years and stuff, they would have to be more angsty, and I wanted to know if y'all would read those too. I'd have to put them in a different story so that those who don't like angst so much would have the chance to avoid them.  
  
However, the next couple of chapters (or maybe only this one) will focus on Maurae and her summer holidays slash eighth grade school year. I know I may have years and crap mixed up, and I don't care. This storyline and timeline works well for me.  
  
"Eagles May Fly, But Not Together"  
  
Hockey conditioning camp was a favorite event of Maurae's since she'd started playing hockey at the age of six. It was her chance to show a 99% male population that girls could play hockey, and they could play it well.  
  
She was in her usual cabin, alone, as usual. She offloaded her bags, locked the door behind her and pocketed the keys. Then she trotted over to the mess, humming under her breath. She may have been aching inside still at having the team so far away, but she could hide it well, as she always had.  
  
Inside the mess hall, she ignored the fact that she was, again, the only girl and looked around for the rest of the Eagles. Terrance and George had been her closest friends on the team, and it was easy for her to find them, sitting at the champions table near the front of the room. She crossed to them.  
  
"Hey, guys," she said. "Long time, no see."  
  
"Oh, look. The reigning champion returns," Ryan cut in sarcastically, looking up.  
  
"Hello to you too, Ryan. It's been a while."  
  
"Yes it has, miss High-And-Mighty."  
  
"Dunno what crawled up your butt and died, but whatever it was, keep it to yourself," she said, sitting down between Terrance and George. But even they wouldn't meet her eyes. "What's bitten you guys?"  
  
"Has it totally escaped your notice, Barbie? You're the only girl here. You always have been, and you always will be."  
  
"So?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Girls aren't supposed to play hockey. Don't you think you've grown past the point where you can do everything the boys can do?"  
  
Maurae got slowly to her feet, fully aware that she was the center of attention of the entire room of boys anywhere from two years younger than her to four and five years older. "And I suppose it wasn't a girl on TV, scoring the third goal in the Team USA- Team Iceland shoot out in the final playoff game," she said coldly. "I suppose it wasn't a girl who won the game for the USA. I suppose, then, that I'm not a girl, and Julie's not a girl, and Connie's not a girl." Silence greeted her words and Ryan wouldn't meet her eyes. "You don't want to play with me, fine. Don't play with me. But I won't stop playing. Nothing you say or do will stop me from playing."  
  
"You'll get hurt," Cameron, another of her Eagles teammates spoke up hesitantly.  
  
She laughed shortly. "I've gotten hurt before. I was slammed headfirst into the boards during games, I bruised my ribs, sprained my wrists. It changes nothing. I played for the national team, and we won."  
  
"What if the Eagles don't want a girl player?" asked James, the oldest boy on the team.  
  
"And when did I ever ask whether or not the Eagles wanted me? The Ducks want me. Team USA wanted me. I'm part of a team, and a team sticks together. So, are the Eagles a team? No, not if they're trying to justify the fact that it embarrassed them that I played for Team USA instead of a boy." She paused and glared straight at the crowded table. "You can go to hell, boys. Because I'm not going anywhere." And then she turned on her heel and walked out, closing the door behind her so it wouldn't slam.  
  
As she walked, she thought about nothing so much as calling her mom...no. She wouldn't call her mom. She started to smile and ran back to her cabin, rifling through her bag for the address book from Ken. She grabbed the pre- paid cell phone that Mr. and Mrs. Banks had given her upon her leaving their house only a few weeks before. She locked the cabin behind her and trotted down to the "park" where she sat on a bench and grinned. She dialed Charlie's number.  
  
("Hello, Casey Conway.")  
  
"Mrs. Conway, is Charlie home?"  
  
("Is this Maurae?")  
  
"Yes, ma'am."  
  
("Charlie said you might call. He says to call him on Jesse's phone, and if that doesn't work, call Adam.")  
  
"Thank you."  
  
("Anytime.")  
  
She hung up and dialed Jesse's phone. ("Hello, Hall Residence, Terry speaking.")  
  
"Terry, is Jess there?"  
  
("You just missed him.")  
  
"Thanks." She hung up again. "If you three are not at Adam's house, I'll kill you when I see you next. I swear I will." She dialed and mentally crossed her fingers.  
  
("Hello, this is Adam.")  
  
"Adam. My favorite friend."  
  
("Ro!")  
  
"You noticed. Are Charlie and Jesse with you?"  
  
("They're on their way over here. How's camp?")  
  
"Dismal. If camp were one of our games, it would have to be the first Iceland game."  
  
("Ouch. That bad, huh?")  
  
"Trying to tell me I need to get over my phase of trying to be like the boys. Ads, did I ever try to be like you or the other guys?"  
  
("No. Not that I remember. You were always you. It was great. You were great. We miss you.")  
  
"I miss you, too. I would so rather go back to the Captain Blood stage of our relationship that stay here. But here I must stay. You know what, the Eagles and the Ducks may fly, but the difference between them is that the Eagles don't fly together."  
  
("You'll always have a place to fly, Ro.")  
  
"That's exactly what I wanted to hear, Ads. Thanks."  
  
("Hold on. The doorbell just rang.") She waited. (Who do you want first?")  
  
"Well, I called Charlie first, so how about him?" She waited for Adam to put Charlie on the phone.  
  
("Well, hello, lover. You didn't last very long.")  
  
"Shut up. I'm not calling about that. I belong here, no matter what they say. I was born and raised here. Nothing I can do about them unfortunately. I just thought it would be nice to actually use the gift Adam's parents gave me."  
  
("And such a good use you put it to. I thought you'd have called Dwayne.") Maurae blushed. ("You're blushing, aren't you? You are!")  
  
"I was going to call him as soon as I'd talked to you three. But Adam was the only one that answered."  
  
("Good. Talk to Jesse, then call your lover-boy.")  
  
"He is NOT my lover-boy, Conway. Dwayne and I are...still sorting out our relationship. Put Jess on the phone."  
  
("S'up?")  
  
"What do you think? How's everything, since we all left?"  
  
("Well, Portman and Fulton are tearing up the neighborhood, the terror of all the alley cats, and windows. Dean's off next week, though. Apparently, his parents actually like him, and they want him to come home for a while before school starts.")  
  
"Well, we'd hope that his parents like him. After all, yours like you." She laughed. "I kind of miss this. It isn't the same over the phone. I like to see your face when I'm making fun of you."  
  
("Right. So, we'll talk to you later, so you can call Dwayne.") They said goodbye and she hung up.  
  
"No, not yet." She closed the address book and leaned back on the bench. "My temper may be under control, but that doesn't mean I won't erupt again."  
  
"Maurae?" She looked up.  
  
"Yes, Ryan?"  
  
"Um, I'm sorry, about the things I said. I-"  
  
"No you aren't. You meant them. You still mean them. Don't waste your time or mine apologizing if you don't mean it." He looked at her for a minute.  
  
"How did you know?"  
  
"I have two brothers. They've apologized to me and not meant it enough times so that I know what it sounds like. Honestly, Ryan, I don't fault you your opinions. Gunnar and Olaf thought that girls had no place on the ice. We taught them otherwise. Of course, I'd have thought you already knew that, but what can I do? If six years hasn't taught you that girls can play the game, then nothing I say should make a difference." She got up and walked past him back to her cabin.  
  
Flopping down on the bed, she sighed. 'Counting the days...yeah, I want to get out of here, for the first time in my life. I can't wait until school starts.'  
  
************************************************************  
  
Eighth grade was little better than seventh, save that more people wanted to talk to her. Since the year before, she'd gotten more famous. Not many middle schoolers actually knew someone who'd been on national television.  
  
Maurae stuck to her usual crowd and friends and about two months into the school year, it started to die down, a fact for which she was grateful. She still missed everybody, but it was more of an empty hurt than an ache or a pain anymore. Her parents had agreed to try out the whole scholarship thing for high school, knowing how happy she'd been with the Team USA.  
  
She turned fourteen a month before school let out. She didn't go to conditioning camp that summer, and she quit the Eagles. They lost ten games that season, and Maurae saw every one of them. She was scheduled to fly out in August, right in the middle of the league season.  
  
School was starting again, and she was going to be in high school.  
  
It was time to fly again. 


	17. Happy Warriors

"Happy Warriors"  
  
"Please welcome to the podium, the head coach and leader of the Mighty Ducks, Gordon Bombay." Maurae shifted her feet, still smiling hugely even though her cheeks ached, standing next to Adam, as Gordon walked up, flashing them all an amused grin. Maurae stood with the rest of the Ducks on the front steps of Eden Hall Academy, staring out at the crowds. She wore her Ducks jersey over her blouse and skirt. Her hair had been straightened by Connie earlier that morning. She was even wearing a bit of the makeup the two girls had given her before leaving Minnesota the year before.  
  
'Has it really only been a year?' she asked herself. She hadn't expected the awkwardness that had greeted her at the airport. She'd thought of nothing but her teammates for months...ever since they'd parted.  
  
"Thank you," he said as the applause died down a bit. "It's a great honor to be here today to introduce you to a truly great group of kids. Sure, they can be a little rambunctious: they've run me ragged and played more than their fair share of pranks. I still haven't forgotten about those eggs." He paused for laughter. "But I hung in there, and they hung in there for me, and we became the Quack Attack, the Flying V, and the Bash Brothers. I've never had a better time." He paused then to look them over and Maurae's grin became forced, more like a grimace.  
  
"Get it over with already," she muttered out of the corner of her mouth. Adam winked at her, making her want to elbow him.  
  
"These kids are winners, each and every one of them. But more than that, these are good people. I hope that they enrich and enliven your school and your lives the way they have mine. Now I hand you over to the capable hands of my old biology teacher and the current headmaster of Eden Hall, Dean Buckley. Dean?"  
  
"Gordon Bombay has a lot to be proud of," the old man said upon reaching the microphone. Maurae visibly sagged, wishing it were over. She needed to get back to her room before one of the others caught her and wanted to talk. She'd managed to avoid talking to any of them for the two days she'd been in town, and she wanted to keep it that way. "We are happy to welcome the Ducks to our great educational institution. So today it gives me great pleasure to award you these full athletic scholarships to the Eden Hall Academy. We hope that the Ducks will be happy Warriors, and lead us on to glory and divisional championships."  
  
"Finally," Maurae muttered, ducking out of reach of the dean's arm and slipping past her teammates. She faded back into the foliage and turned and fled. She and the rest of the out-of-state Ducks had been given their dorm rooms now, at the beginning of the summer. That way, they wouldn't have to worry about the hassle of moving in when the in-state attendees did. They could just show up whenever they felt like it at the end of the summer.  
  
"Running away?" asked Adam's amused voice. She turned to find her friend standing on the path behind her, arms crossed across his chest.  
  
"No. I have a plane to catch, is all," she replied.  
  
"Liar. You've been acting weird since Dad and I picked you up at the airport. What's wrong?"  
  
"Nothing," she insisted.  
  
"You're acting like we've never met," he pressed. "You're acting skittish around all of us. I know something's up with you. Why're you so awkward?" She sighed. She should've known that Adam would see it. She had been avoiding him in particular because she'd known that he would be the one to end up prying it out of her.  
  
"Look, Ads," she said gently. "We've been apart for a year. Things have changed. Our lives are different. I quit playing for the Eagles last year. I was sick of the way they treated me. I kept up with practicing and everything, but...I don't know. I just feel like maybe that hockey was the only reason I had any of you. Without it, I had no one."  
  
"This may sound cliché to you, Ro," he said, uncrossing his arms. "But you're one of us now, no matter how extremely your life changes. Remember the final game in the tournament? Ducks fly together." She sighed.  
  
"Just give me a while, okay. I'll be fine. I'll be back to normal by the end of summer. I hope." He came forward and slung an arm over her shoulders. She managed not to flinch away.  
  
"Good. You're a part of our lives now, no matter how hard you try not to be. But come on. Your plane leaves in three hours, and you've still got goodbyes to say."  
  
She leaned against the wall and sighed. She was off to a great start. Five minutes in the new school and she was already avoiding those people who could make her at least feel like she belonged. Maurae flopped face- down on the dorm room bed and tried to remind herself that she wanted to be here. Someone knocked on the open door and she lifted her head. A tall, willowy redhead stood in the doorway, balancing a box on each arm. "Is this...are you Maura Gra-bek-lis?" Maurae smiled and sat up.  
  
"Maurae. And yes, I am. Are you Carrie?"  
  
The redhead laughed. "No, I'm Andrea, Carrie's older sister. Carrie's on her way up with some more of her stuff. I'm warning you now, she's not in a very good mood. She petitioned for a single room and somehow ended up with a roommate."  
  
"We should get along just fine, then," Maurae replied. "Can I help you with that?" Andrea set down the boxes.  
  
"No, thanks. Don't let her mouth fool you. Carrie's really a nice person at heart. Give her a while to warm up to you, and you should be fine. Ah, speak of the vixen." Carrie Martin turned out to be every bit as pretty as her sister; she was shorter and stockier, but her hair was the same burnished copper and her eyes were the same blue-gray. Carrie's eyes, however, were narrowed with prejudiced dislike.  
  
"If you're my roommate, I'm just going to warn you that I don't like you. I hate roommates and I like privacy. If you aren't my roommate, I'm going to say that it's wonderful to meet you, and I can't wait to get acquainted. So, which is it? Are you my roommate or aren't you?" Maurae stifled a smile and stood.  
  
"Can I help you with any of that?" she replied instead.  
  
"Thanks. Here, this goes in the bathroom. Andi, could you shove that big box under the bed? Thanks." Maurae obeyed. "So, are you my roommate or not?"  
  
"I'm Maurae," she acquiesced. "It's nice to meet you, Carrie."  
  
"No way you can be my roommate. Roommates are supposed to be people you can hate."  
  
Maurae snorted. "I'll tell that to Adam. Or to Connie and Julie," she replied. "So, you don't hate me. That's a good start, I suppose."  
  
"But...but...I can't room with you! You're pretty, and you're nice! I like you already!" Carrie continued to protest.  
  
"I'd normally take those things as complements, but the way you're carrying on, I'm tempted to be insulted."  
  
"Who's insulted?" asked a familiar voice. Maurae turned and waved.  
  
"Come on in, Fulton. Fulton Reed, Carrie and Andrea Martin, my roommate and her sister. Though I think Carrie's taken exception to me for some reason."  
  
"Does it have to do something with insults? Sorry, that's all I heard." He smiled.  
  
"No. We were just bantering. So, what are you doing here? I thought you guys weren't moving in until tomorrow."  
  
"Charlie called me. We need to talk. Something big's happened." Maurae raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "And since I was closest to the school at the time, I volunteered to fetch you."  
  
"Carrie, do you need any more help here?" Carrie, who was eyeing Fulton like she wanted to rip out his throat, blinked at her.  
  
"What? No, I think Andi and I can handle it from here. Thanks, though. Um, are you going to be back for dinner? Maybe we could, uh, get acquainted or something?" Andrea snorted softly at her younger sister's attempt to ask her roommate out. Maurae smiled ruefully.  
  
"Sorry, Carrie. I'm spending tonight with Adam and his family. They've been hosting me for the last week, and they're taking us out to dinner. Um, how about lunch tomorrow? I should be back by then; I have to help the others move in."  
  
Carrie swallowed hard and disliked Fulton Reed and this unknown Adam more and more. "Sure. Sounds good. It was...nice... to meet you, Fulton."  
  
"Nice to meet you both. Carrie, Andrea." He nodded and turned to Maurae, pulling her shoes on. "You're never going to believe this. Charlie knew part of it at the beginning of the summer; Bombay told him. But the other part we only found out last week, when Jess came over to the barbeque. Remember?" Maurae grabbed her keys and wallet and pocketed them, waving to the two girls. Then she followed her friend down the hall.  
  
"Fulton, don't tell me. I think I already know what you're going to say about Jess. But I can wait to be proven right." She threaded her arm through his and, grinning, let him lead her out of the building. Carrie brought her head back in the door and looked at her sister mournfully.  
  
"Howcome all the really decent girls are either straight, or hooked up, or both?" she asked rhetorically. Andrea smiled sympathetically and bent to helping Carrie unpack.  
  
Maurae waved to Charlie as he walked up the front steps of his apartment complex. He grinned and waved back. Then she settled back into the backseat next to Adam. "So, you want to talk about it?" he asked, looking over at her. She shot him a glare. "I'm serious, Ro. It's been all summer, and you're still as distant as you were before. You put up a good front for the others, but they don't know you as well as I do. So tell me, what's wrong with you?" She sighed.  
  
"You're not going to leave me alone, are you?" she asked, knowing perfectly well the answer. "Adam, I don't know what the hell is wrong with me. Lots of things and nothing. I'm a walking contradiction anymore. And you're right, I do fake it for the others." She sighed again and leaned on the shoulder he offered. He rested his chin on top of her head. "I just...my convoluted logic has informed me that I need to distance myself emotionally. I lost so many of the friends I had in middle school when I went to play in the Games. I don't want that to happen again. I don't want to lose any of you when we're apart." He snorted.  
  
"I think you should first step back and have a little faith. Just because some seriously off people did it to you in middle school doesn't mean we're going to do that. Besides, what would I do without you to help me tie my ties?"  
  
"Buy a clip-on?" she suggested, slipping her arms around him. "Seriously, Ads..."  
  
"Seriously, Ro, I'm just like you. I wouldn't be able to deal with anything without you guys. I know I wouldn't."  
  
"On a totally different subject, how do I tell Dwayne that I'm not exactly... interested anymore?" Adam stiffened. "I mean, I know we were never actually a couple or anything, but I don't want to hurt his feelings too much."  
  
"I have no idea. I'm sure you'll think of something. You usually do," he replied, nudging her up. He unbuckled his seatbelt. "Come on; we've got to get up early tomorrow to move in, and I don't want to have to haul you out of bed." She stuck her tongue out at him, but smiled anyway. There was a reason she and Adam were best friends. 


	18. The Welcoming Committee

A/N: [antiIRONY]: see if you can recognize a friend  
  
"The Welcoming Committee"  
  
Moving in the next day was more fun than Maurae had thought it would be. She was mostly used for conversation, as the boys instantly became offended if she offered to help.  
  
"You know, Fulton, I'm not trying to insult your masculinity or anything," she told the Bash Brother as she followed him up the stairs with the keys to his room dangling from one finger. He was still furious and hurt that Portman had decided to stay in Chicago. She felt cold fury, on behalf of her friend, she told herself.  
  
"You're the official door unlocker for the whole team, Ro," he replied, shifting one of the boxes resting on his shoulder so he could enter the elevator sideways. She sighed and entered, holding the door open automatically as someone called out.  
  
"Thanks," gasped the girl, not looking at either of them. She punched the button for the third floor as the door slid closed.  
  
"Not that I mind being the door unlocker," Maurae said, continuing the conversation. "But why do I now have six sets of keys that aren't mine, yet no one will allow me to lift a box? I let you guys help me move in at the beginning of summer."  
  
"We just thought you shouldn't handle anything heavy," Fulton said bracingly, his face hidden by the box on his shoulder. Maurae snorted. "Or maybe we thought you'd prefer to hang out. Dwayne's in the room next to mine, you know." Maurae flushed slightly but said nothing. So far, only Adam knew of her slight hesitation to claim Dwayne as her boyfriend.  
  
"Yes, I know." The elevator stopped and the door opened. The girl stepped out and they suddenly had more room. Fulton leaned against the wall so that the boxes were supported somewhat by it, giving his arms a bit more of a rest. She sighed. "I should probably tell you...Adam already knows." The elevator door opened and she stepped out, followed by Fulton who indicated she go first. She ran ahead to unlock the door and held it open for him. It swung shut behind him and she didn't stop it. Instead, she sat on the extra bed that was to have been Dean's.  
  
"Know what?"  
  
"Have you noticed that I've been...a little off?"  
  
"I wasn't going to say anything. I figured that it was just the jitters about starting a new school."  
  
"It's partly that. But...Fult, I don't feel for Dwayne what I thought I had. I love him, sure enough, just like I love you or Jess or Adam. But I don't want to be his girlfriend. I just want to be his friend." He looked at her for a long minute and smiled slightly.  
  
"That's not a bad thing, you know. I'm sure your friendship would last longer than a relationship. Relationships can get messy fast. I mean, look at Connie and Guy. They've been off and on for almost three years, and it gets terrible when they're off." He opened the door and ushered her out. "Don't worry about it. Just tell him simply. He'd probably rather hear it from you than from anyone else."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"Welcome. So, who's next? Oh, I'll take my keys back now, if you don't mind." She handed him his key ring and smiled. "Let's see...Dwayne moved in at the beginning of summer like me. Russ and Ken, same thing. Luis is already moved in, but I don't think Averman is yet. Want to go see?" Fulton shrugged as she led the way down the hall. Luis and Averman were standing in their open room, yelling across it at each other, both red in the face.  
  
"I told you! I was here first!" Luis shouted. Then he shouted something in Spanish that Maurae didn't understand, but which Averman obviously did. He turned, if possible, brighter red than before and filled his lungs to yell some more.  
  
"Les! Luis!" Maurae shouted cheerfully before anyone exploded. Both boys turned to look at her and Fulton, standing in the doorway. "So, do you need any help moving your stuff in, Les," she continued in a quieter voice.  
  
"Uh, well...sure, if you want. I think I only have one more box left in Guy's mom's van." The argument averted for the time being, she and the three boys returned to the parking lot on the ground floor and Maurae grinned when she saw that Guy and Goldberg were arguing as well, though not as loudly.  
  
Averman collected his box and lugged it back to the elevator while Luis stayed to help Connie and Julie unload Connie's boxes from her mom's car. Finally, Fulton got tired of waiting for Guy and Goldie to stop fighting and grabbed one of the boxes left in the back. "Do either of you mind where I put this?" The two boys looked up, surprised.  
  
"Uh, no. I guess you could just put it inside the door." With Maurae grinning at them over the top of another box, they had to stop arguing about whatever had set them off. Each grabbed one of his own boxes and followed the other two to the elevator. They waited in silence as the elevator chugged down to them and managed to squeeze in.  
  
It was almost three in the afternoon when everyone finally had all of his or her belongings. No one wanted help unpacking their boxes, so Maurae went back to her own room to lounge, expecting to find Carrie. However, her roommate was absent until almost five.  
  
When she walked in, she offered a smile and went to lie on her own bed, looking exhausted. "Sorry I missed out on lunch today," she said as Maurae opened her mouth to say the same thing.  
  
"No big. I didn't get back until almost three. None of the guys would let me help, so the going was pretty slow. We didn't eat lunch, so we're going out for dinner again. Adam's dad is paying for it, of course."  
  
"I'm going to bed early tonight," Carrie yawned. "I can't believe tomorrow's the first day of school!"  
  
"Me neither." She was stopped from saying more by a knock on the open door. Charlie's head appeared.  
  
"Hi, you must be Carrie."  
  
"Yup." He turned to look at Maurae, who was regarding him upside down.  
  
"Ready?"  
  
"I've been ready. Carrie, I suppose you'll be asleep when I get back, so I'll see you in the morning."  
  
"Uh-huh..." Carrie replied, flapping a hand in feigned disinterest. Maurae walked out with Charlie.  
  
She practically snuck out of the common lounge later that night. Getting to her dorm door, she was hardly surprised to find that Adam had trailed her. She sighed and unlocked the door.  
  
"You thought you'd get out of it that easily?" he asked, following her into her room. She sighed again.  
  
"No, Ads, I didn't. I just...I didn't want to discuss my relationship in front of the team, all right?"  
  
"We used to be able to tell each other everything," he pointed out.  
  
"I know."  
  
"You didn't tell me you'd quit the Eagles this year," he said softly. "Why?"  
  
"How did you find out about that?"  
  
"Your mother, how else? Why didn't you tell us?"  
  
"I couldn't. It's just that...ever since I left here, I've felt like that whole flying together thing was just a one time deal. I feel like I don't belong anymore."  
  
"You'll always belong. You're a Duck."  
  
"No, we're all Warriors, now, remember?" She shrugged. "I've just felt a bit out of place lately, that's all."  
  
"Even with Dwayne? You seemed happy to see him." Adam sounded slightly disappointed.  
  
"I was happy to see him, to see all of you. But one of my biggest fears was that it would have all just been a fickle crush. I couldn't do that to him!"  
  
"So, you still like him, then."  
  
"Yes, I do." In the dark, it was hard to tell, but she thought Adam's face might have gone from hopeful to sad. "I love you all, Ads. Especially you. You're my best friend, even more than my brothers."  
  
"I know. I love you too, Ro." Neither one of them realized just how true that statement was.  
  
"Much as I'm enjoying this touching scene, I'll have to break it up. I'm trying to meditate," Carrie's voice commented just as the desk light flipped on. "Evening, beautiful."  
  
Adam stared. Maurae smiled. "I suppose she'll take some getting used to for the rest of you. Adam Banks, Carrie Martin, my roommate. Carrie, this is Adam, my best friend."  
  
"So I heard," Carrie replied dryly, with a raised eyebrow and a wink for Adam. "Adam, a pleasure, I'm sure. Maybe later, all right?"  
  
"Sure. Nice to meet you, Carrie. I'll see you tomorrow," he added to Maurae, kissing her cheek before he left, shutting the door behind him. Carrie bounded to the end of her bed and flopped onto her stomach, legs in the air behind her.  
  
"So, tell me about him!"  
  
"Why?" Maurae shot back, feeling suddenly defensive and a little jealous.  
  
"He obviously adores you. What's wrong with him?"  
  
"I've known you all of seven hours and you already feel like a sister," Maurae commented, shaking her head. She sat on her bed. "Adam's my best friend." She didn't really want to tell Carrie anything about Adam.  
  
"Relax, dear roommate of mine. My door doesn't swing his way." Maurae blinked. "That means I'm of the homosexual tendency, princess."  
  
"I know what it means," Maurae said. "I just..."  
  
"Does he have any sisters?"  
  
"No, just a brother."  
  
"Damn. Just my luck."  
  
Maurae smiled and leaned back against the wall, pulling off the jersey and folding it neatly. "Adam's more into hockey than anything else. We joke that hockey's his one true love. I can't wait until we see what a girl thrown into the mix would do."  
  
Carrie smiled knowingly, a look she quickly hid when Maurae looked up again. "And this Dwayne you were discussing?"  
  
"Another teammate of mine. He's kind of like my boyfriend. Actually, I don't really know what our relationship is now, only that we have one." She shrugged. "I'm still trying to figure out a lot of things."  
  
Julie came to fetch her at promptly eight the next morning. They found Russ and Ken waiting for them near an announcement board with Luis and Dwayne near the auditorium. Dwayne kissed her cheek and she smiled half- heartedly.  
  
"I think this place is runnin' very low on the brothers' quotient," Russ commented as they started walking. People's eyes followed them. Julie agreed with a nod.  
  
"Yeah. Hey, I want to know who this new Coach Orion is. My dad said if I didn't like him, I could come right home."  
  
Russ snorted. "That's nice. My dad said I better stay in on scholarship, or he'd whip my butt."  
  
"In the dorms, I heard the guy played for the Minnesota Northstars, and got suspended for punching out his own coach," Luis offered. Dwayne scoffed.  
  
"You mean the Dallas Stars. I heard he punched out a fan."  
  
"I heard he was a Buddhist, you know, like Kung Fu or Richard Gere," Julie said. Maurae shook her head at the inane tangents she and her friends went off on sometimes.  
  
"Kung Fu wasn't a Buddhist," Ken pointed out. "He was a Travest Monk."  
  
"Are you talkin' about the old Kung Fu, or the further adventures of the new Kung Fu?" Russ asked.  
  
"Y'all watch too much TV," Dwayne interrupted.  
  
"Shoot, that's the safest thing to do in my hood."  
  
Maurae looked around, listening to her teammates gossip further about their new coach. 'I can't believe Bombay bailed on us,' she thought. 'I came back to play for him and what does he do? Leaves.' She sighed. 'First Jess, then Bombay, and then Dean. I can't believe they would all bail on us like that!'  
  
"Come on, princess. We're here." Maurae nodded her thanks to Luis, who was holding the door open for her. He winked cheekily, making her grin. She tapped his chin and went in. The six hockey players found their seats and settled in, waiting for the auditorium to fill.  
  
Maurae was actually starting to get back into her old team rhythm of banter again, and it made her feel much better than she had in a long time.  
  
"You know, you Ducks don't belong here at Eden Hall," snarled a voice behind them. Almost together, they turned, with Russ yelping out an incredulous, "What?!"  
  
"Easy, Russ," Dwayne urged, placing a calming hand on the other boy's arm. "They probably just think for someone else. I'm Dwayne. We're the new hockey team. And you are...?" he asked cheerfully, holding out his hand.  
  
A big beefy blond pulled a wad of gum out of his mouth and pressed it into Dwayne's palm. "Varsity. The only hockey team," declared his brunet neighbor, the same voice as before. "State champs?" Maurae glanced him up and down. A junior, no doubt, who thought he was better because he had money. She quirked half of her mouth up in an amused smirk. She bit back the sharp retort, settling for caustic instead.  
  
"You know, I thought it required a modicum of intelligence to play hockey. At least some rudimentary math skills, like addition," she replied quietly, almost absently. "If we're the new team and you're the old team..." She held up one small hand and lifted a finger, then a second one. "Look, one, two! Wow, imagine that! There are now two teams at this school!" Then she swung around in her seat to face forward. Julie and Russ slapped her high fives and the others just shook their heads and grinned.  
  
"You know, my little brother lost his JV slot when they brought you...yo-yo's in here," he sneered, determined to have the last word.  
  
"He probably wasn't good enough," Julie shot back without turning around. The brunet leaned forward to stick his head between Maurae and Julie. He pointed towards the stage.  
  
"See, that's my dad. He's going to get the board to revoke your scholarships. Just you wait." Russ grinned, and both girls knew what was coming.  
  
"That's your dad? Nice outfit. Did it come wit' a yacht?"  
  
The six teens snorted, struggling to stifle their laughter and the beefy blond quickly turned his laughter into faked laughter, making Maurae realize that he was quite as stupid as he looked. She shook her head, thoroughly amused, and settled down to listen to more speeches.  
  
"We're proud to open our doors, via full scholarships, to a truly gifted group of student athletes," the dean said in conclusion. Maurae sighed in relief that it was finally over. "So please join me, in giving a big, rousing Warrior welcome, to the gold medal winners of the Junior Goodwill Games. May I present to you-" Maurae, Julie, Russ, Ken, Luis and Dwayne all leaped to their feet as the curtain came tumbling down around a lump of people.  
  
"Oh, I'm so embarrassed," Maurae groaned, sinking back down into her seat. But she was hard-pressed to suppress a smile. Her team sure knew how to make an entrance.  
  
"Hi," Charlie said sheepishly from the stage. "We're the Ducks." A ripple of laughter surged through the auditorium and Maurae just shook her head. 'Oh, no! Guys, what've you done?' Maurae thought. She stood up to follow the others from the row and glanced one more time at the Varsity boys in the row behind them.  
  
"See you on the ice, sweetie," the brunet said snidely.  
  
"Maurae," she replied. "My name is Maurae."  
  
Caught off guard, and slightly surprised at her civility and manners, he looked her up and down. "Rick. Rick Riley."  
  
"The pleasure, Rick Riley, I'm sure, is all yours," she said, finally following her friends from the row. Russ raised an eyebrow and Julie raised both but Maurae didn't say anything. They were on their way to the dean's office for a meeting with the rest of their team and the dean himself.  
  
"Check it out, he knows Wayne Newton," Guy commented, staring at a picture on the wall.  
  
"Charlie, man, this is not a good start to our year." Ken's voice was weary as he berated the captain.  
  
"Don't worry, Kenny. These prepsies aren't going to do anything to us," Charlie said, deliberately ignoring the rebuke. "Whoa! Check it out! Antsville!" Maurae shook her head and looked around. "Look at 'em go."  
  
"You can learn a lot from ants." The whole team drew back in surprise. "These Brazilian fire ants can teach you a lot about successful societal structure. You see, there's one queen in there. The rest are dedicated worker ants. Everyone pulls their own weight, no one complains. There's harmony and growth, same here at Eden Hall. Only you are the workers. The backbone."  
  
"And you're the queen?" Russ couldn't resist quipping. Maurae smacked his shoulder, hard.  
  
"Ow! What?" She shook her head in amusement.  
  
When the dean finally let them go after lecturing them for a half hour about the structure and prestige of Eden Hall, Maurae's brain was completely numb. She was glad she had the first few of her classes with most of the others. They headed to the mess hall after visiting their locker room and sat at the same table with their trays of breakfast.  
  
"This school is so stuffy!" Goldberg couldn't help exclaiming as he shoveled eggs into his mouth. The rest watched him in awe.  
  
"No sweat, guys. We'll loosen them up in no time," Charlie said finally, digging into his plastic-looking omelet with great relish.  
  
"Charlie, that's disgusting. How can you eat it?" Maurae asked, opening the package of Pop Tarts.  
  
"It's edible, at least." Maurae shook her head and ate the rest of her meal in silence. When she was done, she crumpled it all up and stood.  
  
"I'll see you guys later. I'm going to explore the campus. Don't want to get lost on the first day." She tossed her trash into a bin on her way from the mess. "Oy," she murmured, stretching her neck once she'd gotten outside. "I hate school," she added, going down mostly-empty halls looking for her assigned locker. She found it and easily spun the combination, pulling it open. Then she put in the textbooks she'd already gathered and slammed it shut.  
  
"Hey there, babe." She rolled her eyes.  
  
"Do you really have such an extremely small brain that you can't even remember my name or are you deliberately trying to demean me by calling me names not my own?" she snapped. Riley looked at her for a moment, puzzled, before he and his two friends started to smile.  
  
"Are you extremely touchy about your name?"  
  
"My mother gave me my name for a reason, and I happen to like it." She turned away from them only to have Riley grab her shoulder and turn her back.  
  
"Hands off," she said coolly.  
  
"I wanted to introduce you to my friends. This is Cole Aaronson and Scott Reynolds." Maurae nodded her head curtly to each of them and peeled Riley's hand from her shoulder.  
  
"Nice to meet you. Now, if you'll excuse me..."  
  
"What if we don't want to?" Cole sneered.  
  
"Well do it anyway," she shot back. She backed up a little and grinned suddenly. "Hey, guys!" she chirped eagerly, waving past them at Fulton, Charlie and Adam. Adam came around and stood next to her, his eyes glaring coldly; Julie and Russ had reenacted the morning's encounter for the others before they'd been confronted by the dean. Fulton and Charlie backed him.  
  
"Something wrong, Ro?" he asked casually, glaring at the three older boys.  
  
"No, not at all, Ads, thanks."  
  
"Headed to the library?"  
  
"Yes, I was. Do you want to come?"  
  
"Of course." He put an arm around her shoulders and glared harder at the three Varsity players before walking off, his arm still around her. "They weren't bothering you, or anything, right?" Fulton and Charlie waved and went off in the opposite direction, voices low, casting glances back at the three Varsity players until they'd turned a corner.  
  
"Oh, they were trying to. But I just figured they were the preppie Welcome Wagon." He smiled. "Carrie and I talked about you last night," she said bluntly. "Well, not about you, in particular. She wanted to know about the team. She's pretty nosy, but I think she's a good person. She seemed very interested in you, me and Dwayne," she added.  
  
Adam swallowed. "Really?"  
  
"Yeah. She wanted an in-depth analysis of my feelings, and all sorts of things. I swear, the questions she asks me make me think more than the questions my mom asks me." She laughed.  
  
Adam smiled. "Really?"  
  
"You're repeating yourself."  
  
"No, see, the tone was different," he retorted. She merely laughed again. "I'm serious. The same word, but it meant two totally different things."  
  
"Right, Ads. Keep telling yourself that."  
  
"I will," he chirped. She shook her head.  
  
"You're entirely too chirpy for the first day of school," she pointed out. "What's up?"  
  
"Well, I'm spending the rest of the morning and most of the day with my best friend, who also happens to be the hottest chick here. Why wouldn't I be in a good mood?"  
  
"First of all, I'm not a chick. And second of all, who says I'm the hottest girl here?"  
  
"I do. And Dwayne, of course, but not in those words. Also, your roommate. Need I keep counting? Riley also seems to think you're worth the attention," he raised his eyebrow. Maurae made a face.  
  
"How did you know about Carrie?"  
  
"The way her eyes tend to focus on girls more than on guys, and the fact that last night she introduced herself by flicking on the light and saying, 'Hey there, beautiful.' Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't beautiful an adjective used to describe girls?"  
  
"And you think that Riley thinks I'm hot?"  
  
"His eyes, too, seem to focus on you. I suppose your boyfriend is a given."  
  
"And you're my best friend, so you have to think that," she teased. "And Dwayne isn't my boyfriend. A kiss in the woods, and then a year apart does not a couple make. I suppose... I guess I'd like us to be a couple, but...I don't know." She shrugged, lifting his arm a bit. He hugged her with that arm.  
  
"Don't fret, my lovely. We'll find the perfect man for you, and I'll be your maid of honor." She giggled and shook her head. "Or at least an usher." They reached the library and he removed his arm from her shoulders to open the door for her.  
  
"Thank you," she said, nodding her head to him as she walked in. He flicked her butt as she passed him, making her yelp and spin to mock-glare at his grinning face. She finally shook her head and turned again, placing her hands palm-out on her behind. Adam laughed. "You made me do it," she said.  
  
"You look ridiculous walking around like that. How about if I promise not to do it again in public?"  
  
"Deal," she said, removing her hands. She linked their elbows and led him to the science-fiction section, whistling softly at the selection. "Awesome. There's some here I bet even Averman hasn't read yet." Adam could tell this would quickly become her favorite place on campus, and he smiled. Then they went to get the rest of their textbooks. 


	19. The Ties That Bind

"The Ties That Bind"  
  
Maurae woke up groggily the next morning, glad they didn't have a morning practice, as they were no doubt going to start having soon. It was bad enough that the first day of school was a Monday. She rubbed her eyes and slid out from under the blankets, her feet landing in her slippers.  
  
Carrie came out of the bathroom cheerfully, brushing her hair. "Good morning!"  
  
"Uh," Maurae replied. She swallowed and tried again, running her fingers through the hair she'd left loose the night before. "Morning. Don't talk to me until I wash my face."  
  
"Aye, aye, Captain!" Carrie retorted, setting her brush down on the night table. She grinned and shook her head as Maurae passed, muttering , "Not captain. Charlie's captain. Crazy, weirdo." Carrie couldn't help laughing at her roommate. It was certainly going to be an interesting year, and maybe she'd finally found someone she could be friends with.  
  
Only ten minutes later, Maurae came out of the bathroom, in a much better mood. She'd brushed and braided her hair, washed her face and brushed her teeth, even though she was going to eat in a few minutes. She slipped her sleep camisole off, making Carrie look away, blushing beet red. Maurae ignored her roommate's reaction and slipped her tank top on and traded her sleep shorts for jean shorts. Tying a sweatshirt around her waist, she slipped on sandals and was ready to go eat. Carrie, managing to control her flaming face, followed her down to the mess and through the line, and over to the table the Ducks had claimed the day before as their own.  
  
Charlie lifted an eyebrow at Carrie. "Hasn't anyone told you that being awake in the morning can get you killed?" Carrie grinned at him. "You're sick." Then he buried himself in his toast and plastic eggs. Maurae made a face at her own eggs and snatched his toast.  
  
"You eat plastic, Charlie," she said, shoving her eggs at him in recompense. He made a face but ate her eggs as she ate his toast and hers. Blearily, Russ and Ken plopped down, shoveling breakfast into their mouths. Maurae pulled out her schedule and flattened it onto the table. "Who has biology first?" Hands went up around the table. "Madigan?" Nods. Apparently, their schedules were almost identical, to get them used to other students slowly. The only classes Maurae had without a teammate in them were 2-D art for seventh period and choir fourth period. Oh, and debate. They got up when the warning rang and headed for Madigan's biology class.  
  
Sitting there, waiting for class to start, Maurae yawned and wished she had stayed in bed just a while longer. She could deal without breakfast.  
  
"Sit down and pay attention," a strict female voice snapped. The class went silent. "Now, this is Honors Biology. I keep a strict schedule that I expect you all to respect. Every Monday, you'll have a practice quiz, every Wednesday, you'll have a real quiz, every Friday, you'll have an exam. And any time I feel like it, you'll have a surprise quiz or exam. Any questions?" The class was too busy staring at her slack-jawed to ask any questions. "Good. Now, go to the library, get your textbooks and be back here in fifteen minutes." The stampede was astounding. Maurae simply waited in her seat. "Did you not hear me, Miss..."  
  
"Grabeklis, Maurae," she supplied. "And yes, ma'am, I did. But I already got all my textbooks in the library yesterday."  
  
"Thinking ahead. Good job. You play center forward for the new JV team, don't you?"  
  
"Yes, I do. I switch off with my friend Adam."  
  
"I don't suppose I can ask you your impressions of the school yet, can I?" the older woman asked with a small smile. Maurae shook her head.  
  
"I don't have any to offer you, ma'am," she replied with a shrug. "I haven't even met my new coach yet."  
  
"You'll like him. Ted Orion is a good man, and an excellent hockey player. You know that he played for the Minnesota Northstars before they left, don't you?"  
  
"We'd heard that, yes. It was a little hard for us, hearing that our old coach was leaving, but Bombay would never leave us if he had a problem with his replacement." Maurae shrugged. "I'm excited to meet him, to tell you the truth."  
  
Madigan nodded and the conversation went silent. Maurae pulled out a reading book and a few minutes later, students started trickling back into the room. She put it away when everyone had returned and the teacher had reverted to her strict self. Paying attention was necessary to pass the class, she soon discovered, as she took notes so furiously, her hand started to cramp two pages into class. She ignored it and wished suddenly that she was ambidextrous.  
  
When Madigan let them out, Maurae stuffed the binder back into her messenger bag and shook her hand furiously as she followed her friends from the room. It was still tingling when she walked into her math class with Ken, Russ, and Julie. They were the only Ducks to have Honors Geometry with Nelson. Adam and Les had pre-calculus and the rest had algebra. Maurae sat down and looked at the teacher, hoping desperately that he wasn't like Madigan and expected them to be able to handle quizzes every day.  
  
"Welcome to my class," he said, his voice firm. "I expect you to respect me and I shall respect you. Do your homework and study, and we will only have a weekly quiz. Start slacking off, and I will have to up that to daily quizzes." The class groaned. Nelson's eyes twinkled at them as he smiled. "So all you have to do is not slack off. Have we a deal?"  
  
The entire class nodded as one, some more emphatically than others. Again, Maurae's hand started to hurt while she took notes. After that class was the first of their forty-five minute breaks. The second came between sixth and seventh periods. She went to her locker and traded notebooks and textbooks for the ones she would need in her next classes and then found a bench where she could read in the sunshine. The others found her there about a half-hour into their break.  
  
"Hey, Ro."  
  
"Guys. Connie."  
  
Maurae groaned as she entered her debate class. Public speaking was an evil, a necessary evil, but an evil nonetheless. Frowning thoughtfully, she sat down near the front and set her bag on the floor, glancing around at the rest of the class. She recognized nobody, but the dark girl three rows back looked vaguely familiar. Maybe she'd seen the girl on the brief tour of campus the day before.  
  
Shrugging, Maurae faced forward again, praying they didn't have to start an actual debate the first day. Seeing the message written on the board in front, she closed her eyes, already weary of the stupid school. The bell rang and the rest of the seats filled. Unfortunately, none of the other Ducks were in this particular class with her, so she didn't even have Averman's bad jokes to pass the time.  
  
"Today's debate will be a brief one," the teacher explained, getting attention. "Organized sports." The dark girl's hand shot up at the same time as Maurae's, seeming to shock the teacher to no end. "Yes, you, miss...?"  
  
"Shayne."  
  
"Shayne. Will you be for or against?"  
  
"Against. Vehemently against. Completely against." She got up and went to the front. Maurae stared at her, face growing more aghast at each word. "Sports are demeaning. It's just the start of how society weeds out those they find unworthy. Only the perfect people can play, no one else is wanted. I mean, if you aren't up to a certain standard, you're disappointed while kids no better than you get picked. Just because you're a few inches too short, or a few pounds too heavy. It's injustice is what it is, and sports should be banned from educational institutions. They're just the start to how corrupt our society really is. I mean, sports are filled with only perfect people, so then go a step farther, and religion weeds out the people it doesn't want. If you do a certain thing, you'll go to hell. If you do another certain thing, you could be stuck in jail, when really all you were doing was standing up for yourself." Maurae couldn't take it anymore.  
  
"You're wrong," she said clearly. Standing up, she walked forward. "Organized sports make people feel good about their own abilities. They teach discipline and strength that you'll need later in life. And sports have nothing to do with religion."  
  
Shayne sneered elegantly. "You must be a jock."  
  
"You say that like it's a bad thing. Yes, I am. I play hockey. I'm part of a team. I know what sports are like. You obviously have no idea what you're talking about."  
  
"Are you saying that I'm ignorant?"  
  
"Or just plain stupid. Either one." Maurae shrugged delicately, part of her amazed at herself. She never knew just how passionate she was about the hockey part of her life. Shayne's eyes blazed.  
  
"Nobody calls me stupid."  
  
"I believe I just did." The whole room waited in tense anticipation of what would happen next. And what did happen shocked Maurae completely. Shayne leapt off the small platform and tackled her. Rolling on the floor, people screeching above them, a part of her mind wondered where her sanity had gone as she hit Shayne back. Suddenly, hands lifted her bodily off the other girl, restraining them both. Maurae stopped fighting immediately.  
  
"I am astounded!" the teacher thundered. "Miss Kimble, Miss Grabeklis, you ought to be ashamed!" The man was literally shaking in anger. "I want you both to go to the dean's office, right now." They left, throwing glances at each other.  
  
"Wait, Grabeklis?" Shayne asked through a cut lip once they were out in the hall. "Maurae?" Maurae's eyes had grown too, though one was already darkening.  
  
"Shayne Kimble? What in heaven's name are you doing here?"  
  
"I could ask you the same thing. Last I heard, you were still in Colorado."  
  
"I was offered a scholarship, with the rest of my team. My hockey team," she added with a painfully raised eyebrow. Shayne grinned sheepishly.  
  
"Sorry about the...eye."  
  
"Yeah, well, I'm sorry I called you stupid."  
  
"Not that you hit me?"  
  
"You did hit me first. And you did insult my friends." Shayne waved a careless hand.  
  
"Aw, you'll get over it." Maurae shot her a sideways glare. "Man, whoever thought we'd be going to the same school? It's been what, three years?"  
  
"Or so," Maurae replied, gingerly touching her eye. Shayne snorted. "This is going to be pretty tomorrow," she added ruefully. "So, what are you doing here?"  
  
"Going to school. Apparently, Mom and Dad weren't too pleased with my...um, lack of success at my last school. Mom called Aunt Mo. Your mom suggested this school. I think my parents are glad to get me out of the house for a while."  
  
"I can't imagine why," Maurae retorted dryly. Shayne shot her a look, but the other girl's face was bland. "Shayne, what did you do to your hair, and for Pete's sake, why?"  
  
"Don't like my new colors?"  
  
"No wonder I didn't recognize you. You've gone almost completely...Goth, for lack of a better term."  
  
"How about you, then?" Shayne replied. "The goody-goody I remember would never have picked a fight at all, let alone in the middle of a classroom." Maurae winced. "You never would have had the nerve. And your hair's different too."  
  
"Changes happen, I guess. I'm different." She shrugged casually as they entered the office. "Being part of the team...it was an experience I won't soon forget." The assistant only raised an eyebrow when they walked in, indicating they should sit on the plastic chairs. Obeying silently, Shayne felt her lip and tried a smile.  
  
"Nice hit, by the way," she muttered. The dean's office door flew open and Dean Buckley stood there looking ready to breathe fire.  
  
"Miss Grabeklis, I had thought that after our talk this morning with the rest of your team that I would have no further trouble from you. And here, you've been in a fight? And with your own cousin!"  
  
"In all fairness, sir, I didn't realize she was my cousin until after I split her lip," Maurae said sweetly. The dean looked incredulous. "The last time I saw her was a couple years ago, and we've both changed since then."  
  
"Get in here, both of you, and we'll discuss your punishments." They hurried to move and flinched when he slammed the door behind them, walking forward to sit behind his massive desk. "I am disappointed that any students in this school would start a fistfight. Especially on their first day. I think detention for a week after school should change your attitudes." Maurae looked ready to protest, but the dean's glare shut her up. She sighed and nodded. "Now, get to the nurse's office for ice, both of you."  
  
Shayne winced as she put the ice pack on her lip, then sighed. "You know, I honestly didn't expect my next encounter with you to end in pain. None of our others ever did." Maurae didn't bother to comment; ignoring silly comments had become second nature to her since befriending the Ducks.  
  
"Holy Shit, what happened to you?" Maurae pulled the ice away from her face and looked up at her best friend.  
  
"I got in a fight." He stared at her dumbly.  
  
"You...got into a...a fight," he repeated blankly. "You?"  
  
"Well, it was mostly her fault," Maurae retorted, waving a hand in Shayne's direction.  
  
"Don't blame it on me. I was just debating my point."  
  
"Belaboring the point, insulting me and my friends, and pretty much calling everyone an idiot. Besides, the point was organized sports, not corruption in society. You went off on the world's biggest tangent. And you hit me first." Adam was going back and forth throughout this exchange.  
  
"Okay, then," he spoke up, cutting off their next volley. "Ro, I'll see you at lunch, right?"  
  
"Of course. Bye." He left. Shayne turned to her with a big smirk on her face.  
  
"Who's the pansy?"  
  
"Take it back, or I'll hit you again," Maurae growled. "That's my best friend you just insulted." Shayne nodded, the smirk still on her face.  
  
"Sure, I take it back. I'm just glad you're not dating him. Only think of how embarrassed I would be to be related to you then."  
  
"You girls can go to class now," the nurse snapped. She practically shoved them out the door, muttering about hot-headed teenagers. Shayne walked off without saying anything, leaving Maurae shaking her head after her cousin. She, in turn, walked in the other direction, ignoring the people streaming past, keeping her head down.  
  
"What the hell happened to you?" She looked up, startled. Charlie was staring at her, eyes huge. He reached out and touched the edge of the bruise. Maurae jerked back.  
  
"Nothing. I'm fine." He raised an eyebrow, but she was looking past him, watching a scene unfold. Luis, intent on the blonde cheerleader in front of him, didn't realize that Riley and Cole were following him. She winced in sympathy as Cole shoved Luis hard into the lockers. The Latino looked ready for murder, but the Varsity boys were moving on.  
  
However, when Cole snatched Ken's lunch, Maurae bristled angrily. She walked forward and, in passing, jammed a sharp elbow into the bigger boy's gut. He grunted and turned. Maurae dug in her pocket and pulled out her lunch money for the day. "Here," she said. She slipped a five into Ken's hand as he walked by. He smiled at her gratefully and kissed her cheek. She was just starting to get used to this new mode of thanks from her friends. "Let it go," she muttered, tightening her grip on him as he glared after the two bigger boys.  
  
Finally, he sighed and relaxed, looking at her. "What would we do without you, Ro?" he asked with a cheeky smile. "You're a born peacemaker." She grinned and shook her head. "Where'd you get the pretty shiner?"  
  
"My cousin. Long story. I'll tell it to you sometime, but not now. Now it's time for another class." She shrugged her bag higher up on her shoulder and walked away.  
  
Suffering through the looks from her friends, she nearly shouted in relief when the lunch bell rang. Then she remembered that she'd given her money to Ken. Slightly less exuberantly, she followed the crowds to the giant cafeteria and found the table already crowded with her friends.  
  
The banter was usual for them all, but Maurae quickly got bored with the questions about her eye. She glanced around and saw Shayne eating alone, glaring at her food while she stabbed it with a fork. Quietly excusing herself, she went over. "What did that macaroni salad ever do to you?"  
  
"Don't you ever get tired of bothering people?" Shayne retorted, looking up.  
  
"Sometimes. But you're so easy to bother, I keep coming back," Maurae quipped, smirking. "Do you want to join us?"  
  
Shayne actually looked offended. "You may be my cousin and all, so I won't speak out against your sport anymore. But I'm sort of a fan of anarchy, I guess you could say. So unless you want me to blacken the other eye, I suggest you don't try to suck me into your world again. I grew up in it, remember?" Maurae sighed and shook her head.  
  
"You do what you want. I was trying to be friendly. At least I came to this school with friends. You've got no one, unless you count me, and I wasn't under the impression that you did." Maurae turned and walked off, shrugging. She didn't go back to the table, however. Once they got past her black eye, someone would notice that she wasn't eating and then Ken would realize she'd given him all her money, and he would either get mad or insist she share with him, or both. She didn't want the fuss.  
  
Opening her locker, she rustled around for her next class textbook. "Here," a voice said, shoving half a sandwich into her face. "You didn't eat."  
  
"Worried about my health, Captain Duck?" Charlie grinned his lopsided smile and shrugged somewhat shyly.  
  
"I saw you go off and talk to that Goth girl. I also saw you give Ken your lunch money earlier."  
  
"The girl was my cousin, and Ken's lunch was stolen by Cole, or whatever his name is. Besides, I'm not that hungry."  
  
"Liar. Go ahead, eat it. I already ate my fill." She ate the sandwich rather than argue with him. "Did you really get into a fistfight with your cousin?" Ruefully, Maurae nodded.  
  
"Except I didn't know she was my cousin at the time," she replied. "I didn't recognize her."  
  
"Come on, I'll walk you to class," he said, refraining from questioning her further, for which she was glad. "So, excited about practice this afternoon?" he asked casually as they walked down the hall.  
  
"I don't know. Rumors are flying all over this team about what he's going to be like. I'm a little excited, I guess. A bit nervous, definitely. But mostly, I just want to get out on the ice again. Practicing alone just isn't the same as practicing with a team. I don't know how bad I've gotten since the Games." She sighed. "I miss it." Her voice was small. Charlie smiled and flung an arm around her shoulders like he had so many times before. She slowly relaxed. "I missed this a whole lot more, though."  
  
"Missed what? Being manhandled?"  
  
"Hey, Fulton," Charlie and Maurae chorused, turning just slightly.  
  
"Saying manhandled is just one way of saying that I was part of something bigger," Maurae explained. "I missed having you guys around me all the time, making noise and talking to me and...I just missed being part of a team." Her face reddened slightly.  
  
Ignoring her obvious embarrassment at her speech, Fulton slung his arm over her shoulders as well, grinning. "I hear Miss Perfect here got herself a week's worth of detentions on the first day," he commented instead. She flushed crimson and chuckled. "And I heard she got into a fist fight."  
  
"I did and I did. Shocking, I know." Both boys were laughing at her. "But sometimes perfection can be so dull." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and laughed. "I'm getting a reputation as a regular bad girl." Charlie snorted.  
  
"As if," he replied. "You are a good girl at heart, Ro, and you always will be. Reputation or no. And we have to defend your reputation, too. It's our job as your teammates."  
  
"Thanks, Spazway," she smiled and kissed his cheek, only a few centimeters higher than her own. Fulton made a face.  
  
"What about me?" he teased, ducking his head a little so she could reach it. She obediently kissed him too.  
  
"But don't tell anybody, else they'll all be wanting kisses," she whispered conspiratorially, making them all three laugh.  
  
"Yeah, and I don't want to share with the others," Charlie teased back. "It's bad enough having to share with Fulton." Maurae giggled, feeling much better than she had since Adam and his dad had picked her up at the airport.  
  
Speaking of Adam, who appeared right then, grabbing her ribs from behind, making her jump and screech. "Adam, don't DO that!" she said. The three boys were laughing hard, and she smiled fondly at all of them. This would be the moment that Portman would lift her bodily into the air, just to prove he could. Her smile turned wistful. As much as she hated to admit it to herself (and she'd never admit it to anyone else), she missed the other Bash Brother. These three were her best friends in the world, as odd as it sounded for her to have three best friends who were guys, and she didn't even know how much she had missed them.  
  
Her shoulders relaxed for the first time in days and she grinned, a slow, cat-like grin that made Adam stop laughing and back up slowly. He put his arms up, palms out to ward her off. "Oh, no you don't. Guys, a little help?" But Maurae pounced, laughing, and clung to his shoulders.  
  
Fortunately for Adam, the bell rang right then to signal the end of lunch. She slid off his back and instead linked her arm with his, letting Charlie move to her right side. "Feel better?" Adam whispered into her ear as they walked into their fifth period class together. She nodded and released his arm.  
  
"I feel like me again, if that's what you mean. I don't know what I was thinking, saying I didn't feel like a part of the team anymore." She shook her head at him. "I can't wait until practice this afternoon. The new coach will have to be something else, and not all the rumors can be false."  
  
"Hopefully," Adam shot back. 


	20. Duck Hockey Starts With a W

"Duck Hockey Starts with a W...and So Does Detention"  
  
Fortunately for the three Eden Hall students who received detention on their first day of school, hockey practice wasn't until 5:00 for the JV team. Varsity had seniority, so they had the ice from 3 to 5. And when I say fortunately, I mean fortunately for Maurae and Fulton; they wouldn't be missing practice.  
  
Maurae walked in to find Shayne already there, feet propped up on a desk, glaring at her. "I still maintain that it is your fault I'm wasting my afternoon," she said firmly.  
  
Maurae, whose eye was as dark as her cousin's blue-black hair, only scowled, an expression not often seen on her face. "I'm really not in the mood to banter with you, Shayne," she said, dropping into a seat wearily. "It's bad enough you're the only one I have to share detention with."  
  
Of course, Fulton chose that moment to saunter in, a grin on his face. "What about me?" She looked up and the scowl immediately faded.  
  
"Thank heavens," she replied. "What're you in for?"  
  
"Throwing frog brains at Madigan in biology this morning." Both girls stared. "Yeah, I know it's immature and all, but I couldn't help it. They were squishy." Maurae, who knew her friend could handle dirt but not slimy things, grinned. Fulton spotted the black RHCP shirt Shayne was wearing and actually looked at her. "Hey."  
  
Maurae's eyebrows rose slightly as something occurred to her. "Fult, this is my cousin Shayne. Shayne, this is my friend Fulton. He's on the team with me," she added wickedly. "The hockey team." Shayne's eyes widened as she looked him over.  
  
"You play hockey?" Her tone was incredulous.  
  
"Yeah. I'm a defenseman. Good for knocking people down." He offered a hand, which she shook. Maurae bit her lip to keep from laughing aloud. "Nice shirt, by the way. I've got one just like it at home." He wrinkled his forehead in a mockery of deep thought. "Or maybe it's here."  
  
"Oh, please!" Maurae exclaimed. "Will you two stop flirting already!" She huffed and yanked a notebook out of her bag as Shayne raised an eyebrow and Fulton flushed, dropping the hand he'd still been holding.  
  
"Don't worry," Shayne said, still looking at Maurae. "She accuses everyone of flirting."  
  
"Ro, did you write down the biology assignment?" he asked, trying to change the subject.  
  
"Uhm," she replied noncommittally. Then she absently reached into her bag and pulled out a small book, tossing it to him without looking. "Third page."  
  
"Thanks." She waved her hand at him and pretended to ignore both of them.  
  
"How long have you known Maurae?" she heard Shayne ask.  
  
"For about a year and a half, maybe a bit more. We played on the team together in the Junior Goodwill Games. Have you ever seen her skate?"  
  
"I used to go to her games, back before she went and got all famous. Back before my hair was blue-black." Shayne shrugged. "She was pretty good, I guess." Seeing his look, she quickly clarified. "Not that I'm all that great a judge of things like that. I can't ice skate; she can't skateboard. It's an even trade."  
  
"You any good on a skateboard?"  
  
"Let's just say that she is to a skateboard as I am to ice skates," Maurae said without looking at either of them, still pretending to read. Shayne made a face.  
  
"If you're going to butt in on other people's conversations, Maurae Nicole, you should at least look at them," she snapped, taunting her by using her middle name, and a tone of voice reminiscent of Maurae's mother.  
  
"If I wanted to look at you, Shayne Elizabeth, I would," Maurae shot back evenly. Fulton followed the exchange, highly amused. "It so happens that I don't."  
  
"I am not going to deal with this for two whole hours," Shayne muttered rebelliously as a teacher poked his head in to make sure they were there.  
  
"Maurae Grabeklis, Shayne Kimble and Fulton Reed, right?" The three teens nodded. "Good. You'll be dismissed at 4:30." He disappeared and Maurae turned her back on her cousin and Fulton and traded her notebook for the history text she had to start reading. She heard Fulton and Shayne start an intense discussion on music, the merits of certain bands and eras.  
  
This made her roll her eyes. She and Fulton never agreed on music. Of course, she and Fulton never agreed on much except hockey, their friendship with each other, their friendship with the team, and that they both missed Portman but were angry with him.  
  
For that matter, she and Portman never agreed on anything but hockey and their friendship with Fulton. He was often loud and boisterous, while she preferred quiet and alone. He tended to hog the spotlight, and she wanted nothing better than to let others have it. Of course, he was a good friend, and quite attractive besides...  
  
Her feet hit the floor with a thud and she almost fell out of her chair. No, Portman was not attractive. He was an overbearing goon. Satisfied that her subconscious would not insert any more thought not her own, she lifted her legs once more onto the desk, crossing her ankles. She ignored the stares from Shayne and Fulton before they resumed their conversation.  
  
She re-emerged when Fulton laughed at something Shayne had said. This time, her feigned ignorance of the comment was genuine. "What's so funny?" she asked, setting the book down and stretching her shoulders. Shayne looked at her for a moment and shook her head.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Right. Like I haven't heard that before, and at my expense, too."  
  
"Consider it a joke at your expense, then, if it makes you feel better," Shayne shot back. Fulton broke in then.  
  
"For two people who are related, you two sure fight a lot."  
  
Maurae looked thoughtful, and Shayne slightly guilty. "We grew up together, true enough. I guess we were friends before...even though I had hockey, we got along pretty well, though we did – and still do! – disagree on several key things."  
  
"But when she was picked for the national team, and even a bit before that, when my family moved, we grew apart so rapidly it was staggering. I cut my hair and dyed it, she let hers grow and lost weight. I got more and more...rebellious and anarchic, while she got quieter and more...I dunno, peacemaker-ish? I got darker, she got lighter."  
  
"But most of this is banter and bluster, Fult. We're so different now that we...I guess we're still getting used to the new people we are. Of course, we used to taunt each other all the time back when. I never hit her, though." Her smile was teasing, and Shayne let it go.  
  
"Maybe we still are friends. Who knows? But I'm not a good little girl anymore, and she just doesn't have it in her to be a bad girl." Maurae shrugged away the comment, though it stung. She knew it was true and she wasn't going to try and pretend it wasn't. Though being a little rebellious could be fun.  
  
'Maybe that's why Portman appeals to me so much,' she thought absently. 'He's not exactly the kind of guy you can take home to meet your family. And where the heck did that thought come from?' She shook her head again, trying to chase away thoughts of Portman.  
  
"I don't know," Fulton teased. "She's landed herself a detention on the first day of school, AND punched a fellow student. She's well on her way to getting a bad girl rep." Maurae stuck her tongue out at him.  
  
"I lost my temper."  
  
Shayne grinned. "I remember when we were little, and Justin used to provoke you. He'd pull your hair and scream at you. Remember when he bit your nose?" Maurae immediately flushed crimson. Fulton looked interested. "You stuck a crayon up his butt." At this, Maurae covered her flaming face in her hands as Fulton howled with laughter.  
  
"Is detention supposed to be this funny?" asked a thoroughly bland voice from the door. The three teens turned and saw that they'd been joined by the rest of the hockey team. "Hey, Ro. Fult. We thought we'd come see if you were bored enough to try and ditch it."  
  
Shayne turned to Maurae and raised an eyebrow. "That's the second time someone's called you 'Ro.' What's it mean?"  
  
"Nickname they gave me the first day I met them," she replied quickly, hoping against hope that her cousin, who knew her well, wouldn't get them started on her other nicknames.  
  
When the manic grin spread across Shayne's face, she knew that she had no such luck. "Nicknames, huh? Have you told them any of your other nicknames?"  
  
"Oh, no. Please, Shayne, don't!" This, of course, piqued their interest. "Please, I will do anything! Absolutely anything!"  
  
"Or, instead of nicknames, I could tell them stories about you." Her voice was thoughtful, but Maurae wasn't fooled. Her eyes narrowed dangerously.  
  
"And you could do both, but you know what I have on YOU." Her own grin was wicked now, and her friends were watching the exchange with amusement. "You don't tell them about the nicknames or about Fred, and I won't tell them your little secret. Deal?" She held out her hand, knowing Shayne would go for it.  
  
"Deal."  
  
"Stories?" Les asked comically. "I like stories."  
  
A heavy sigh, and Maurae rolled her eyes. "Shayne, the rest of the team. Guys, my cousin Shayne."  
  
"Tell us a story!" Les exclaimed, sitting on a desk and watching Shayne with mock-innocent eyes. Shayne laughed and her smile turned evil.  
  
"I know just which one to tell you," she said, shooting a look at Maurae.  
  
"Just tell me which one so I can decide whether to run away or just end my misery completely by sticking a pen through my eye," she drawled, feigning unconcern. Shayne grinned.  
  
"I was going to tell them about you and Jamison, in first grade."  
  
"That's not a bad story," she retorted. "I would have figured you'd tell them something really embarrassing."  
  
"Oh, I'll get there, don't worry. Or should I tell them about the time I saw you with George after that game."  
  
Maurae's eyes widened. "You saw that? I didn't know you'd seen that! I thought nobody had seen that!"  
  
"Well, I did. I could trash your good girl rep thoroughly for you, if you'd like."  
  
"Shut up. I only told Leon about that. And for the record, it wasn't that bad." Shayne only snorted.  
  
"I'm dying from curiosity here," Russ said, breaking up the argument. "Are you going to tell us a story or not?"  
  
"I suppose." Then Shayne proceeded to tell a truly embarrassing story that had Maurae's face in flames, her hands over her ears, and her head buried in her arms on the desk. When the laughter died down, Adam reached over to tap her shoulder.  
  
"Go away," she mumbled. He tapped her again. "Adam Banks, I swear, if you touch me once more before my skin is normal-colored again, I'll slap you."  
  
"How'd you know it was me?"  
  
"I always know who it is," she shrugged, lifting her face off her hands. "You know," she said mock-thoughtfully. "I have some pretty...interesting stories about Shayne." To her surprise, Shayne went pale.  
  
"No! You wouldn't!"  
  
"One thing you obviously forgot, Shay," Maurae grinned, her face still red. "I give as good as I get, and better." She didn't get the opportunity to tell her story, however, because the teacher stuck his head in the room. He blinked.  
  
"You can go. It's almost five." The team got up and started a mad rush for the ice rink. Maurae and Shayne stayed behind a few extra seconds to glare at each other.  
  
"This is so not over," Maurae commented as she picked up her bag and stuck the history book into it. Then she swept out, leaving Shayne behind to glare and wonder if she would really tell the story she thought was the one. At last she shrugged and dismissed it.

* * *

They changed all in one locker room like they were used to. Despite entering high school and dealing with their growing hormones, none of the boys would look at the girls – the knowledge that any of the three could beat any of them up kept them discreet – or the girls at the boys.  
  
For Maurae, she was floating. She just wanted to play hockey with her team once more. She missed it terribly. They all crowded through the doors into the rink and breathed their awe. "Wow, this place is great!" Guy exclaimed. Someone whistled in awe. Charlie led the whole group forward to stand practically with their noses to the glass.  
  
"This is a nice rink," he commented, looking around critically. A flurry of exclamations greeted his words.  
  
"You know, I bet they even have a snack bar here," Goldberg commented, making several people snort.  
  
"Big deal," Adam replied absently, staring at the Varsity team already on the ice. Seeing his eyes, Ken grinned.  
  
"They look pretty good," he said quietly.  
  
"They've sure won a lot of championships," Julie added, indicating the banner-hung rafters.  
  
"They're huge!" Averman exclaimed.  
  
"They're not so hot," Charlie insisted.  
  
"Yeah. Come on, guys. We could skate out there," Connie agreed encouragingly. She and Charlie led the whole team around the rink to the gate and opened it, only to be met by the Varsity team in force.  
  
"Well, if it isn't Captain Duckie," commented Riley. Fulton reached past Charlie's shoulder and shoved him back a foot into Cole.  
  
"Get your hands off him," he growled.  
  
Cole sneered stupidly. "Ooh, look! A Bash Brother! I'm so scared." Julie rolled her eyes at Adam, standing next to her, who covered his mouth to hide a smile at the not-so-intelligent comeback.  
  
Fortunately, before a fight really could break out, Wilson skated over and started to push at some of his players. "Break it up! Come on, men, let's go!" The Ducks stood and watched until Varsity had left before stepping onto the churned ice and starting to skate a circuit.  
  
Charlie glanced back at Dwayne, just behind him. "How 'bout it, cowboy? Round-up?"  
  
"Hey, Charlie. Shouldn't we wait for the new coach before we mess around?" Connie pointed out.  
  
"This is how we practice," he retorted. "Duck hockey, Connie? He'll have to get used to it sooner or later." She shrugged agreeably and Charlie turned back to Dwayne. "Well, come on, Cowboy. Hit it!"  
  
Dwayne grinned and looked around at his team. "Yee haw! Round 'em up, doggies!" With a cheer, the team split up as Dwayne swung the lasso around his head. Julie, Connie, and Maurae formed a chain of three, holding onto each other's waists as they skated around the rink. At the opposite end, Maurae let go, intending to skate on her own for a while.  
  
BOOM! She hit the boards with a thud that actually echoed, despite the noise from her teammates. Embarrassed, burning red, she got slowly to her feet and skated leisurely around the rink, watching as Dwayne caught Adam and then Averman. She grinned when Adam skated towards her.  
  
"Feel better?" he asked. "Nice fall, by the way." Her face flushed and she gently punched his arm.  
  
"Why did you have to say anything?" she groaned. "Isn't it bad enough that I fell?" He grinned his boyish grin.  
  
"What kind of best friend would I be if I didn't remind you of your faults?" he teased.  
  
"The kind that lives until old age," she growled playfully. Then she tackled him and they both fell, just as the lasso fell across them. "And if I'm going to keep falling, you're coming down with me," she added, getting up and skating fast away from the approaching Dwayne.  
  
Adam grinned, shook his head, and ducked as the lasso flew over his head again, this time capturing Fulton. Grinning, Dwayne found Charlie and started to swing the lasso again. Charlie took off as fast as he could, trying to outrace the lasso already flying after him.  
  
It slipped over his head and shoulders just as he tripped. Sliding on his belly for a few feet, he suddenly went silent with the rest of the team as a whistle blasted shrilly. They all looked as a very angry-looking man skated towards them, a scowl on his face. He stopped precisely a foot in front of Charlie's face.  
  
The captain looked up, eyes dancing madly, and slowly got to his feet. "My name is Coach Orion," the man said, his voice firm. "You can call me Coach, or Coach Orion." Charlie smirked and held out a hand.  
  
"You can call me Charlie."  
  
"That must be what that 'C' on your jersey stands for, unh? Sure doesn't stand for 'Captain,'" Orion responded, wiping the smiles off half the gathered faces.  
  
"Sorry, Coach. We're just messin' with you," Russ spoke up.  
  
"Hey, Bombay gave him that 'C,'" Goldberg pointed out.  
  
"And I respect that, but that's the past," Orion said, eyes flinty. "This is my team, now, and I'll be selecting the captain." Charlie's face was incredulous.  
  
"You gotta be kidding me, right? I mean, you're the rookie here. We've all been together for four years!" Maurae winced. He was digging himself a nice big hole.  
  
"Okay, Charlie. Laps. Right now."  
  
"How many, _Coach_ Orion?" he asked, pulling the rope over his head, face stubborn.  
  
"I don't recall saying." Charlie shook his head mutinously and skated off, arms pumping. "Now you listen up, and you listen up good. We are here for one reason and one reason only. You know what that is?" He skated sideways in front of Averman. "Starts with a W."  
  
"To win, Coach Orion, sir!" Averman responded cheerfully.  
  
"No. Tow work," he corrected, making Averman sag. "High school hockey is very hard work. And it all begins with defense. I've seen your tapes. I know you can score goals. I just don't know if you can stop them."  
  
"Hey!" Goldberg interjected. He looked around for support, found none, and faded. "Uh, sorry, sir."  
  
"You're not kids, or little Ducks anymore, so I'm not going to treat you that way. You're going to learn to play two-way hockey: offense _and_ defense. It's going to take one thing." Once again, he was standing in front of Averman, who tried to give it another shot.  
  
He snapped to attention. "To work, Coach Orion, sir!" he shouted, military- esque. Russ smacked his arm.  
  
"Wrong," Orion replied, again making Averman wilt. "Will. It's going to take real will, if you want to play in my barn." He looked at them all, to make sure they'd gotten it. "All right. Count off, let's climb the ladder."  
  
Slowly, they obeyed. Maurae sighed and pulled on her helmet. _'This is going to be a long year,'_ she thought to herself, retrieving her stick and shooting a look down the rink at their stubborn captain. 


	21. Disappointed

"Disappointed"

The locker room door banged open and the exhausted JV team filed in. Goldberg flung his pads to the floor and collapsed onto the bench in front of his locker. "Somebody get a shovel, and bury me right here," he moaned.

Charlie stalked through the room to his own locker. "I'll teach you to play like WHAT!? Starts with a W!"

"Wussies?" Averman filled in wearily.

"That's right. Wussies on offense and defense!" Charlie shot back.

"Defense, defense, defense!" Russ chanted. "Hooah, hooah hooah! Hooah, hooah!" He punched his locker and abruptly straightened when the door was flung open again.

"The Eden Hall Academy requires you to maintain a C average to compete. I believe that's a bad rule." Orion was marching towards the bulletin board in the back, mindless of the cheers that statement was getting. Maurae and Julie exchanged looks as if to say, 'There has to be a catch.' "I don't want any C players on my team. Either it's B's or better, or you're going to be riding the pine pony." He tacked up a sheet of paper and turned. "Now, you've got fifteen minutes after every practice to clear this locker room; you've got homework to do." He turned to leave, and immediately swung back around. "Oh, one more thing. Stay clear of the Varsity until we play them in the JV-Varsity showdown. You got that?"

Without giving them a chance to reply, he was gone, and the door slammed behind him.

"Fifteen minutes?" Russ asked, incredulous. "Man, I cannot _move_!"

"Hey guys, look. He posted our positions." There was a rush to the board at Connie's words.

"I don't believe this! I play left side, not right," Fulton groused.

"Third line! Man that's a major diss!" Russ exclaimed.

Adam eagerly scanned the list. "I'm not even posted!" Maurae's head snapped up at that and she got up.

"Yeah you are! Adam Banks, third line, center...Varsity?" At that, her blood ran cold. This could not be good.

"I made Varsity?" Adam echoed, turning to look at Maurae, who managed a weak smile for his benefit.

"That's the great thing about being goalie, you know? You always know where you stand," Goldberg was saying. "I just mind mine business, and take my place between the pipes." Averman snorted, reading the list.

"You're riding the pine pony, pal."

"Haha, very funny! Haha!"

"Julie's one, you're two." Several people covered smiles as the chubby boy leapt up to verify his friend's words.

"I'm backup?" His eyes widened when he saw the list. "How could he do this to me? What am I, chopped liver?"

"Hey, who's Captain Tibid?" Dwayne asked. Maurae glanced up from untying her skates, a small frown on her face.

"No, that's captain T.B.D. To be determined?"

"Oh, I see! Well...no I don't. That's your job, Charlie." The room fell silent as everyone turned to look at their former captain. Maurae finished pulling the bulk of her equipment off and got up to look at the list.

_Charlie, front line center._

_Guy, left wing._

_Luis, right wing...where am I?_

Conversation had just started up quietly again when she found her name. "What!?" she exclaimed, silencing them again. Her name was just above Adam's on the list. "Nonononono! No! He's got me playing third line!"

"Maybe he saw you crash into the boards," Dwayne commented innocently. In her irrational state, however, this comment only made her angry.

"Well, thank you, Dwayne!" she shouted. "That makes me feel ever so much better!" She snatched up her backpack and stomped out of the room. First Adam makes Varsity, and then her position was given to Charlie. Those, she could handle, because in any sane mind, she'd get second line. But to put her in the third line? That was someone jumping up and down on her pride and dignity.

She slammed into her room and threw her backpack, books and all, at the wall with an angry exclamation. Carrie only blinked at her from her own bed. "Did someone put a wasp in your undies?" the redhead asked sarcastically. Maurae turned on her.

"I am so not in the mood."

"What happened to your eye?" Carrie asked, eyes widening. Maurae touched it gingerly and sighed.

"Long story."

"I have time."

Maurae sighed again but proceeded to tell her new friend the events of the day, right from breakfast to the posting of the list. Carrie nodded and sympathized, and by the time the tale was done, Maurae felt much better, though still a bit angry about the injustice of it all.

Someone knocked on the door and she got up to open it. "Oh, hey, Ads," she said, stepping back to let him in. "Um, congratulations on making Varsity. That's really awesome." He nodded and walked in, dropping his bag on the floor and dropping onto her bed.

"I feel terrible. I mean...I'm on Varsity and you're third line...Charlie isn't captain, Goldie's not goalie...Jess and Portman and Bombay are gone..."

"The world's falling out from under us," she supplied blandly. "But no sweat, right? You'll do fine on Varsity." Carrie raised an eyebrow, to which Maurae shook her head.

"Only you," Adam commented, looking at her, blue eyes sparkling.

"Only me, what?"

"Only you would be trying to get me to cheer up while you must be ready to kill someone." Maurae offered a wide grin.

"What on earth makes you thin I want to kill someone?" she asked innocently. Adam laughed, and Maurae had to follow. "Okay, so I do. I guess my being off the ice so long was bad for my game. I just didn't expect it to be this bad." Her smile turned wry. "I'm starting to wonder if I'm not going crazy," she added. "Everything that's changed this year. It's weird. I mean, I didn't flatter myself by thinking I'd make Varsity like you have or anything. I kind of just thought I'd at least end up playing my own position, same as before. Being bumped to third line is...it's a bit of a wake-up call."

"He'll move you up after a game or two, Ro. You know you're good enough." Maurae nodded thoughtfully. "So, you want to help me with that homework we've got piled up?" Maurae shrugged.

"Now is as good a time as any, I suppose. It's not like we've got anything else to do."

"Great. And afterwards, you can help me move into my new dorm room." He'd purposefully waited to drop that on her, and it took a minute for the words to sink in.

"You're moving into a new dorm now?" she asked.

"Yeah. Coach Wilson wants me to move in with the rest of his team, so I have to do that before practice tomorrow."

"Which means tonight. Let's do it now. The others will eat dinner and be ready to study with us, hopefully, and we'll get done faster." They both knew that was far from true, but if she wanted to move him first, he wasn't going to argue. He got up, waved a farewell to Carrie and led his friend from the room. "What did Charlie say?" she asked quietly. Adam halted. "Or did you refrain from telling him?"

"I haven't told him yet."

"He's your best friend as much as I am, Adam," she reasoned. "He'll want to know. Moreso, since he's your current roommate."

"I know, I just..."

Charlie walked out of the room then, and flung a grin at them. "Hey, Ro, Banksie. What're you two up to?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, causing Adam to flush and Maurae to lift one eyebrow that made him flush. "So, um, have you started that biology homework?" Maurae giggled.

"Not yet. We'll start our homework in a while."

"Are you telling me that the two study bugs of the team are putting off studying? Call the newspapers! This is a front-page story!" His grin was teasing, and the three best friends shared a laugh. Charlie put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek. "I'm sorry." She waved it away.

"I'll deal just fine. At least I'm not on Varsity like our Ads. I don't think I'd be able to handle it." She glanced pointedly from Adam to Charlie and back again. Adam cleared his throat.

"Speaking of...Varsity, Charlie...um, Coach Wilson wants me to...move into the Varsity dorms before practice tomorrow." He waited.

"You mean...but why? Just because you're playing with them doesn't mean they can take you away from us! That's not fair!"

"That's what I told him, but he said that since Varsity and JV aren't supposed to have anything to do with each other before the showdown, that my living with you would compromise my loyalties or some such bullshit. It's worse because I'm friends with you." Adam's blue eyes begged Charlie to understand that it wasn't his choice. Charlie nodded slowly.

"Well...let's get you moved, then. This doesn't affect our friendship, though, right?" Adam's smile was loaded with palpable relief.

"Never."

Maurae grinned and stretched up to kiss both boys' cheeks. "That's my boys," she said. Taking their hands in hers, she pulled them into their room. "Now, let's get started. I have homework to do."

It only took two hours to pack all of Adam's things into their boxes. Then Maurae went down the hall to enlist Fulton's help. To her immense shock, she found Fulton and Shayne in the study lounge, buried in the biology textbook. Half her mouth quirked into a wry smile.

"You work fast," she commented. Shayne looked up, looked at Fulton, sitting awfully close to her, and back up. "But that's not why I'm here. Fult, can I beg your help for some box duty? We have to lug all Adam's boxes upstairs to the Varsity dorms."

"He's moving?"

"Wilson's orders. But yeah."

"Sure, I'll help." He set his book down. "Shayne, do you want to help?"

"Sure, why not?" The three teens headed back to Adam and Charlie's room, and Fulton picked up two boxes, leaving one each for the remaining four, and Adam's hockey bag which had been jammed with some of his clothes as well. "Where exactly are we taking this stuff?"

"Just up one flight," Adam said, not really surprised that Shayne had come. He'd noticed the way she and Fulton really seemed to like each other. He led the way to the stairwell and up the stairs to the Varsity hall. He found his door and kicked it.

The door was opened and Scott "Scooter" Reynolds looked at them. "Right, Wilson said you'd be moving in." He stepped aside and held the door open. "Left side's yours."

"Thanks," Adam said, setting down his box and the hockey bag on the bed. Everyone else stacked their boxes at the end of the bed. "I'll unpack it later. Let's get going on that homework before we go to bed." The rest of them filed out, but Scooter stopped Adam.

"You know the rules, man. Stay away from them." Maurae stopped and started to turn when she heard Adam's low voice replying.

"They're my friends. My _best_ friends. And I'm not going to abandon them simply because you and your teammates have a beef with them." He nodded sharply and caught up to them, waiting for him at the stairs. With his lop-sided grin, he followed them down the stairs and into the study lounge.


	22. Just Another Day of High School

"Just Another Day of High School"

"You know what I hate most about being a freshman?" Carrie asked the next morning as the two roommates headed down to breakfast. Maurae looked at her, still half-asleep.

"Hm?" she mumbled, stifling a yawn. At least she and the others had finished all of their homework the night before, only ten minutes before curfew. She glanced at Carrie, half awed, half disgusted that her roommate could be so awake in the morning.

"The fact that everybody seems to know it. I mean, I know I'm shorter than average, but everybody assumes that means I'm a freshman. A few of your teammates could pass for seniors...physically. Mentally, they'll probably all remain freshman." Maurae grinned at that.

Though barely acquainted with the girl, Maurae knew Carrie was both a lesbian and highly jealous of the rest of Maurae's friends for the time they'd known and spent with her in years previous. "I think I have to concede that point to you, Carrie," Maurae yawned. "I do admit that sometimes, the guys don't know when to turn off the immaturity. But they're a good group of people...for all of their faults."

"If you say so," Carrie teased. Maurae smiled.

"I do say so."

"Morning, glorious," Charlie said as they walked past the team's table. Maurae grinned at him. "So, are you ready for a full day?"

"As ready as any of us ever are, Charlie," she retorted affectionately. Adam walked through the doors, then, trailing after Scooter and Riley. He waved when he saw them, but motioned apologetically at his two new teammates. Charlie and Maurae simultaneously waved and smiled back. "It's going to be different without him, isn't it?" she asked softly, her eyes glued to her friend. Charlie smiled and pulled her down into the chair next to his.

"It will be a new experience for all involved. But, hey, the world keeps turning." Maurae shot him a look that said plainly she didn't believe a word he was saying, and she knew he didn't either. "All right, but what kind of captain would I be if I just sat here lamenting? No kind at all. So I have to just roll with the punches, I guess."

"That was possibly the most mature speech I've ever heard coming from your lips, Charles Conway. Did you eat something bad for you?" she teased, putting a hand against his forehead in mock-concern. He laughed and dug into another plastic-looking omelet. She shook her head and went for cereal.

Fulton apprehended her seat while she was fetching her food, and she ended up sitting at the opposite end of the table with Connie and Guy, who were not the most interesting conversationalists when they were together.

She ate her breakfast as quickly as possible in order not to have to listen to the two croon at each other for very long. Then she threw her dishes away and headed over to where Adam was sitting with the other Varsity players. He smiled when he saw her coming and started to stand. Riley, sitting next to him, put a hand on his shoulder and forced him down again.

"You know you're not supposed to be over here," he said. Maurae smiled.

"Fortunately, then, I'm not a JV player here to talk to a Varsity player. I'm a girl here to talk to her friend. Good morning, gentlemen. Hey, Ads. Can I talk to you for a sec?" Adam nodded and started to get up again. Scooter was the one to pull him down this time. Maurae lifted an eyebrow.

"You know the rules."

"All I want to do is talk to a friend." This time she physically walked over and nodded her head in the direction of the door. He stood without obstruction and waved to his new teammates as she led the way from the room.

"They're not bad, mostly," he explained. They're just a bit jealous of their teammates, especially teammates with previous affiliations." Maurae nodded thoughtfully.

"We are still friends," she clarified. His eyes widened.

"How dare you think otherwise! You're my best friend, Maurae, and _that_ is a proven fact. I just have to spend some time with them. You know, get to know them. Then they'll stop seeming so rude and start acting like normal people. I think they're afraid that I won't want to play you guys, that I'll somehow ruin they're chances for winning against the JV."

"It's a tough place to be, isn't it?" she asked gently. "You're part of their team, but you're our friend." He nodded.

"You understand, then. Yeah, it's like that. I mean, hockey is what I eat, sleep, and breathe, but you guys are who I am."

"I'm always here," she reminded him, as genuine as she knew how. "If you need me, I'm always here."

He hugged her. "I know you are. And believe me, I'll always remember it." She nodded, satisfied. "Now, how about we get ourselves to class number one?"

"It's a deal."

- - - -

(Adam's POV)

Maurae was right, it was a hard position to be in. On the one hand, I grew up with the Ducks, and they're my world, even the ones we only met recently for Team USA. But I know what team means. So how do I keep my loyalties to my team, while still holding onto my loyalties for my friends?

It's as hard a position to be in as being in love with your best friend when she's in love with someone else...or even not in love with you. Charlie and I had had several conversations on this subject during the year we were apart and this past summer. It seems I wasn't as subtle in displaying my feelings for her as I'd thought. At least to those who know me well...except for her, which is odd.

She gave me a lot to think about. So much so, in fact, that I lost track of my classes and my thoughts until lunch. I was determined to eat lunch with the Ducks. I mean, if breakfast, dinner, and practice belonged to the Warriors, along with my free time, I was determined to at least spend one meal of the day with my friends.

Unfortunately, I didn't get very far...

- - - -

Adam had just gotten his lunch and was glancing around when he saw Ken being bullied (again) by his new teammates. While they'd assured him it was only the traditional hazing of JV players, he still didn't think it was all that cool. Another reason for him to sit with the Ducks at lunch.

He slipped by the Varsity table and set his tray down next to Fulton. "Hey, dude. Nice to see the whole Varsity thing hasn't gone to your head," the enforcer teased. Adam grinned, glad they were still treating him the same.

"No, see, I'm only here to remind you that you're the little people," Adam retorted. Maurae snorted as she sat down across the table from them. "What's so funny?"

"You said 'little people' to Fulton, who's probably four to five inches taller that you, and outweighs you by at least ten pounds. That's what's funny."

"But, see, I was referring to you, sunshine," he teased. She tossed a floppy French fry at him. "So...I was wondering...what's going on this Friday?" Maurae shrugged and poked her fork at the limp salad that sat on her Styrofoam plate as Charlie sat down next to her.

"Is this edible?" she asked instead. Fulton made a show of leaning across the table and putting his face up close to it.

"I think it's still alive," he said solemnly. "That piece of lettuce just moved." The boys and Maurae laughed, and Maurae attacked the indicated piece of lettuce with her fork. "So, Adam was talking about Friday...I dunno. I think the girls are going to have a mall day," Charlie said, shooting Adam a funny look that the other understood perfectly.

"Cons and Jules are still debating that point with me," Maurae spoke up, still glaring at her food. "I just don't see how spending all my money on new clothes I don't need is considered fun." She shrugged. "I think I'm going to skate around town a while. Of course, you know Orion will probably insist on a practice that afternoon. Honestly, I don't understand how he and Bombay were friends. They're so different!"

Charlie nodded. He raised an eyebrow at Fulton, who followed his pointed glance towards the Varsity table. Both boys stood and waved vaguely as they left. Adam sighed and turned his attention to his own meal. "They expect us to actually eat this stuff?" he asked, sticking a fork into his macaroni and lifting. The whole serving came with it. Maurae actually laughed.

"Apparently so," she replied. She set down her fork and leaned back a bit in her chair. "But I think I've misplaced my appetite for today." Adam nodded, glancing around.

"Where'd Charlie and Fulton go? And where's Russ?" Maurae looked around then, too.

"There they are. Russ has his tray, and the other two already ate. Oh no." Adam immediately saw the reason for her sudden statement. Riley and Cole had just gotten up and were now stealing Charlie's lunch. "This is not good." He had to agree, since, as Cole lifted a handful of green goo to his nose and took a big sniff, Charlie's shoulders shook with laughter and Russ got himself set to bolt.

Suddenly, dishes were flying everywhere and their three friends were racing through the cafeteria, chased by Varsity player. Adam was up, out of his seat and off after them before Maurae had shoved her chair back, but she was hot on his heels. Behind them trailed most of the rest of the cafeteria.

**(A/N: I know a lot of you get tired of hearing how much Adam really loves his best friend. This DOES NOT MAKE MAURAE A MARY SUE!!! There are Mary Sue-ish things about her, but she isn't one. Get over it.)**

**Oh, and thanks again to all of you wonderful reviewers who tell me to keep writing. It's a huge confidence booster, and it helps me want to keep writing. Thanks a bunch, and keep reading!**


	23. When Things Fall Apart

"When Things Fall Apart"

Detention. Again, detention. Of course, Maurae had to put her original week's detention on hold for another week's detention because of the stupid prank revenge Charlie, Russ, and Fulton had pulled on the Varsity boys.

She limped back to her room from practice that afternoon, Orion's shouts and whistle blasts echoing in her ears. Collapsing face-first onto her bed, she didn't move, even when she heard voices from Carrie's side. She hadn't even bothered to check and see if the room was empty before she'd lurched in. Frankly, after day two at this hellhole they called School, she was so not in the mood to even care if Carrie had someone in the room.

She rolled over with a grunt when Carrie poked her hard in the ribs. "What?" she groaned, not even opening her eyes.

"Maurae, this is my friend Derek." Maurae moaned in irritation, but sat up and offered a smile. And found her smile genuine. Carrie's friend was quite attractive. He smiled back.

"Carrie's told me a lot about you," he said, offering his hand. Maurae shook it gingerly and glared at her roommate.

"Don't believe it all. I'm not crazy."

He laughed and reclaimed his hand. "Well, I couldn't help wanting to meet you. Since I caught up with her yesterday afternoon, it's been, "Maurae's the coolest." And "Maurae said such-and-thus this morning. Isn't that funny?" I've never seen her so enamored of anyone." Now both girls were flushed with embarrassment. "She did say you're on the hockey team. That alone intrigued me. Not many girls around here like sports, let alone like to play the most violent one there is in a high school system." Maurae laughed.

"I'm not most girls."

"I can see that," he replied. Something in his voice made Maurae flush again, which made Carrie grin.

"I thought you two might like each other. Derek's an artist."

"What media?" Maurae asked promptly, making Carrie shoot her an incredulous look. "What? My best friend back home is an artist. Pen and ink, mostly, with some watercolor and pencils." Derek looked slightly impressed.

"I'm pen and ink as well, and pencil. Paints don't like me. I end up with more paint on me than on canvas, so I steer clear. I also like to do some pottery."

"Cool," Maurae replied. "I love pottery, though I'm not good at it. At all. Somehow, I attract more clay and mud than the pottery wheel."

"I could help you out sometime, if you want," he offered. Carrie raised her eyebrows at Maurae, who ignored her and smiled slyly.

"That would be fun," she said. "I love playing around, but since nothing ever comes of it, I kind of just stopped."

"How about Monday afternoons?"

Maurae opened her mouth, but Carrie interrupted her. "She can't. She's got detention for the next two weeks and hockey practice every day."

"Thanks," Maurae said irritably. "Wednesday and Sunday are our days off, unless we have a Friday game. Then we get Saturdays off."

"Do you have practices on Saturday mornings or afternoons?" Derek persisted. Maurae hid a smile.

"So far, they're scheduled for mornings, nine to noon. After that, my time is my own, though I'm supposed to work on homework. But who ever does that?" She shrugged and laughed. "None of us ever do homework. I, myself, use the time to either read, or listen to music."

"She doesn't lie. That's all she does after practice. Doesn't even eat dinner," Carrie informed him. "Just plops down on the bed, pulls on her headphones, and pulls out a book."

"Not always," Maurae replied solemnly. "Sometimes I change and shower first."

"I forgot to tell you she has no modesty."

"And you do?"

"And how long have you two known each other?" Derek interrupted, teasing. Carrie and Maurae glanced at each other and laughed.

"Only a week. But it feels like longer." Maurae smiled, and they were interrupted by knocking. "Carrie, you're closest, you get it." Carrie made a face, but got up and opened the door. Adam's face peered around it. Finding her, he smiled sheepishly. "I thought you were banned from the JV hall forever," she commented, motioning him in. He entered and Carrie let the door shut behind him.

"I am. If anyone catches me here, I'm in trouble. So what? I had to see somebody, and you were first on the list."

"Sit. You know you're always welcome." He crossed and swung himself over the end of her bed. "Derek, this is Adam, my best friend. Not the artsy one, though; Ads is a hockey maniac too. Which reminds me... you guys are so dead in the JV-Varsity game."

"I beg to differ, but-"

"I hate to interrupt what I know is going to be a very intellectually stimulating conversation," Carrie interrupted loudly, grinning wickedly. "But don't either of you have homework?"

"Are you kidding?" they chorused. Maurae grinned.

"We have a week's worth of detention together. Besides, Adam and I have always done our homework together. It's a tradition. Of course, now the idiot's taking Spanish instead of French, so I either have to do that homework alone or with Luis." She gave a fake shudder and held out her hands palm-up, like a scale. "Alone...?" The left hand dipped. "With our resident male whore." The right hand. "Alone...with Luis..." The left hand took a dive. "I choose alone."

Adam shrugged. "Luis already speaks Spanish. You didn't expect him to take German or Latin, did you?"

"Latin, yes."

"French in the romance language, remember?"

"He's not a romantic," she retorted.

The argument would have continued, to Derek and Carrie's continued amusement, if someone else hadn't banged on the door. Adam dove for the bathroom and Maurae got up to answer the door. "Well, look who it is. King of the Varsity, come down to spend time among the little people," she drawled. Rick Riley was standing outside her door, backed by Scooter and Cole, as usual. She leaned on the door. "To what do we owe this great honor, your Highnesses?"

He smiled warmly, but Riley's brown eyes were cold. "Looking for our newest teammate. You haven't seen him today, have you?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I have." She stood her ground when the three boys attempted to push past her to search the room. "I saw him the last time I saw you," she lied with a calm, straight face. "I saw him in detention."

"I know he's in here. He can't stay away from you rejects."

"I'd watch who you're calling names on the JV hockey floor," Maurae replied. "The others have ears too, you know."

"I know he's in there with you." He shoved at the door instead of her, and Maurae took a step back. "Where is he?"

"Why don't you tell me so I can get back to the conversation I was having?" she said acidly. "I don't like you. Go away." She put one hand on his chest and pushed him backwards. Once he was far enough away from the door, she stepped back and closed it, muttering about the idiots who thought they ran the school.

"That was rude," Carrie commented.

"Everybody's rude, Carrie," Maurae explained patiently. "I just have to work at it. You can come out now. The baboons are gone."

"Baboons?" Derek asked, raising one eyebrow. Maurae smiled.

"I meant to say buffoons, but it came out baboons." She shrugged as Adam plopped himself down on her bed again. "I do that sometimes. I'm good at inventing names."

"I came by to ask you something, though," Adam interjected.

"Uh-oh. A serious question," Maurae teased.

"Nah, not really. Daniel wanted to know if you and Charlie would like to come over Friday for a movie. He's having Andrew and Rick over."

"I'm totally there."

"Fulton's invited too, but I think he and Shayne are going to hang out. I haven't asked them yet."

"They're in the study lounge right now. I'll go ask, if you'd like. I have to get my books anyway." Adam nodded.

"Thanks."

"Safer this way anyway," she teased. He grinned as she slipped out of the room. Walking down the hall, she smiled at how close she and Adam were. It was unspoken that they would cover for each other. It was also unspoken that no matter what team either of them ended up on, the other was always there to cheer without jealousy. She smiled. Adam was her rock...one of her rocks.

She pushed open the door to the study lounge and stopped short, mouth dropping open in surprise. Fulton was sitting on the couch, Shayne in his lap, and they were kissing. She gaped silently for a few moments, until Fulton pulled away from Shayne slowly and abruptly noticed her.

"Um, Ro! Hi! What's up? This isn't what it looks like...I mean...aw, shit. Um..." Maurae cut him off with a laugh.

"Poor Fulton! She's my cousin, not my child, so don't worry about it. Besides, she's her own person. And I know she likes you. That much is obvious. Besides, how could it be anything but what it looks like? You were kissing. Oh...Adam and Daniel are having a movie event on Friday at their house. You're invited. Small gathering, don't invite anyone else. Oh, and I left my books here." She picked up the offending objects and ran out of the room, almost giddy with what she'd just seen.

"You'll never guess what I just saw!" she said as she ran back into the room. Dropping her books on her bed, she leaned over and whispered it into Adam's ear, causing his blue eyes to go wide.

"No!" he exclaimed, then started to grin wolfishly. "Oh that's too funny!"

"I think it's kind of cute. They're good together. At least they have stuff in common."

"Not much, but sure they do," Adam replied vaguely, still grinning.

"Don't tease him. You know he'll rip your arm out."

"Right." Carrie shot Maurae a look, which the other girl pointedly ignored. "So, are you hungry?"

"No, not really."

"You have to eat dinner, Maurae," Adam and Carrie said simultaneously. Maurae made a face at them both, which made Derek laugh.

"I have to do no such thing. I'm not hungry. Besides, if you get caught eating with me, you'll get in trouble." Adam threw up his arms in mock-disgust.

"Fine, grumpy. Check the hallway for me." Maurae obeyed. As Adam passed her, he kissed her cheek. "See you tomorrow in detention."

"Before, we have classes together, remember?"

"How could I forget? The only Varsity-free moments of my life. When I am free to be myself." He attempted a contemplative look, but Maurae nudged him out.

"Get you gone, me love," she said. "I'll see you in the morning."

"As always. Night."

"Night." She closed the door behind him and sighed. Carrie giggled, making her turn around. "What?"

"He loves you."

"Well, duh. He's my best friend."

Now Derek laughed too. "I think Carrie means that your friend Adam is _in love_ with you." Maurae's mouth opened and closed once, and she sighed.

"I wish I could disagree with you and sound convincing, but I can't." She sighed again.

"Well?" Carrie prompted.

"Don't 'well' me, Carrie. I don't think I love him like that. I'm only fourteen, for goodness sake!"

"So?"

"I don't love Adam like that. He's my best friend. And he'll stay my best friend. That's _all_!" And with that decision, she pulled her nightshirt and sleep pants out of the closet and went into the bathroom for a shower, shutting the door firmly behind her.


	24. Movie Marathon!

AN: **_I AM SO SORRY!_** To all of my faithful, I apologize, repeatedly and profusely. I am so busy lately, and haven't even watched the movies in almost a year...the inspiration was starting to die, and I needed some new...Anyway, I hope to be updating relatively regularly from now on, at least on this story. Say, every two weeks, at the very most. I will try to finish it for those of you who still love me!

"Movie Marathon!"

It was Friday, at long last. The night of the get-together at Adam's house. And Maurae was lounging on her back on her bed, staring at the ceiling as Switchfoot blasted her ears. She didn't realize that Carrie had been shouting her name for five minutes until the redhead yanked the headphones off her ears completely and tossed them aside.

"Your ride is here," she said grumpily. Maurae blinked and sat up, glancing at the door, where Adam and his older brother, last year's Blake graduate Daniel, were leaning on the doorjamb, smirking at her. She rolled her eyes at the both of them and swung her legs off the bed, slipping her feet into the shoes waiting for them.

"You sure you can handle a weekend alone in this big, scary dorm without me?" Maurae teased her roommate. Carrie only scowled. Maurae continued to smile at her pleasantly until Carrie's facade broke and she ducked her head to hide a smile. "Better. Sure you don't want to come? I'm always outnumbered at these things."

"You'd think she'd be used to it by now," Daniel quipped, looking pointedly at his watch. "Come on, girl, we have to go. Carrie, it was nice to meet you."

"You too." Carrie picked up her roommate's overnight bag (aka her hockey bag stuffed with clothes instead of gear) and shoved it at Adam, who, still smirking, hoisted it over his shoulder and started to walk away. Maurae made a face at Carrie, but saluted her sarcastically, then laughed as Daniel grabbed her arm and dragged her (almost literally) down the hall after his younger brother.

"See you!" she called before she pulled herself free and bounded down the stairs ahead of the burly college boy. He sighed and followed her more decorously, but nonetheless enthusiastically, and Carrie lost sight of them. She shook her head in amusement and irritation over her roommate's antics and went back into her room, closing the door and flopping down on her bed, bored out of her mind.

Maurae, on the other hand, was psyched to get out of the dorms for the weekend, and away from her psycho new coach. "Be glad you made Varsity, Ads," she said, catching up to her best friend and slipping her arm through his. "Orion is a nightmare, honestly." She rolled her eyes. "He has us skating like sixty laps before practice, and he'll make us skate more laps if we screw up from exhaustion." She scoffed and sighed, hugging his arm. "How has practice been for you? I bet the Varsity guys are giving you a hard time, huh?" She hadn't really seen her best friend long enough to talk to him during the past week, and it showed in how fast she was talking.

"Slow down, Ro," he teased, tossing her bag in the backseat of his brother's car and holding the door for her. She flushed at her unusual enthusiasm and shut up, ducking in after her bag so he could close the door. "I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to answer your questions this weekend."

"Of course," she said, suddenly quiet. She sat back in the seat and crossed her arms over the seatbelt, silent as Daniel climbed into the driver's seat.

"Suddenly nothing to say?" he asked, grinning, starting the car and leaving the parking lot.

"Just thinking," she said with a shrug.

"Deep thoughts? Thinking about your date to Homecoming?"

"Funny, Daniel," she said, flushing. "Nobody wants to go with a big tomboy like me," she added with as nonchalant a shrug she could muster. She looked out the window, as if that could hide her bright red face The older Banks raised an eyebrow, but let it go. Adam, however, turned in his seat and looked at her, opening his eyes wide.

"Why do you always do that?" he asked quietly. The seriousness in his voice made her turn from the view outside to look at him.

"Do what?" she shot back, knowing what was coming, but unable to resist baiting him again.

"Why do you always put yourself down, like you don't matter to the rest of the world? Do you hear Connie or Jules saying no one will go with them because they're tomboys? No. So why do you insist you're less than you are?"

"Look, Ads, I didn't mean anything by it. All I meant was that no one's asked me."

"Then why didn't you say just that, instead of insisting that no one would want to go with you?"

"I-"

"Why don't you two just go together?" Daniel spoke up to cut them both off before they got started. Maurae and Adam shut up, sure enough, but only for a minute.

"What?" Maurae asked finally, not daring to look at her best friend when she asked it.

"Honestly, that's the best solution, isn't it? You're best friends, so you know you'll have fun, even if you do end up ditching the dance and going to someone's room to play video games or watch movies or some of the same shit you do every weekend." Adam was glaring at his brother by then, but Maurae was looking terrified. Thanks to Carrie, she was now afraid to be alone with her best friend...but that was ridiculous. Why should she be? So Carrie thought he loved her...so what? He was still Adam, wasn't he?

"Where did you cook this up, in chemistry class?" she finally shot at him. "A wonder you didn't make something explode!"

"Whos' to say I didn't?" And the subject was officially changed, though not closed. Not if Daniel Banks had anything to say about it, and he did... a lot to say, in fact.

He saw the way they were around each other, though Maurae obviously was either ignorant of the tension or trying to figure it out. And he knew perfectly well how his brother felt about the female center forward. "What are we watching tonight?" Maurae asked finally, uncrossing her arms so she could sit on her hands and lean forward a bit.

"Um, we thought we'd wait for everybody to show up and then we'd decide," Adam said. "Which should probably be done by around...I dunno, nine-ish? You know how it gets with more than like four people."

"Yeah," she said with a smile. "What do we got for eats?"

"Honestly!" Daniel teased. "An English student, and you ask 'what do we got?' What are they teaching you in that place?"

She snorted. "I can talk whatever way I want to, English or no," she said. "Besides, I can use big words in a sentence, when you don't even know what they mean, college boy."

"Aren't you a bit young to be flirting with college men?" Daniel retorted.

"Sure, if there were any men around," she rejoindered triumphantly, as Adam grinned.

"She got you good with that one, Dan," he snickered.

"Careful, or I might just drop the both of you off right here," Daniel said, though both knew he was teasing. At least, they hoped he was teasing. Just in case he wasn't, they both stopped their banter until they'd reached the Banks' house.

Maurae grabbed her bag and carried it into the house, glaring at first Daniel then Adam when they tried to be gentlemen and carry it for her. "You know, maybe guys like it when you let them be gentlemen once in a while, Maurae," Daniel said. "It has nothing to do with being a tomboy, and it has even less to do with insulting your feminism."

"What are you going on about?" she snapped. "I can carry my own damn bag once in a while!" Then she lugged it up the stairs to the guest room that was designated hers every time she decided to come stay, slamming the door behind her, leaving the two brothers standing on the landing, shaking their heads and sighing in defeat. She was just too stubborn for her own good. And she wondered why the boys at Eden Hall were too intimidated to ask her to the dance!

She spent a good half hour reading on the bed, waiting for everyone else to show up, before someone came and knocked on the door. "It's open," she said, setting the book down and looking up expectantly when the door inched open.

Adam and Charlie appeared, both grinning. "Everybody's here. We've narrowed the movies down to three," Charlie said in greeting.

"Shoot," she said, rolling onto her stomach and using her arms, push-up style, to lift herself onto her knees. "What three?"

"The first Star Wars, Spaceballs, and a James Bond movie."

"No to Spaceballs, you know I hate it," she replied instantly.

"Yes, we know you think it's a'bloody travesty,'" Adam said with a grin. "But the Star Wars was a surprising success with everybody, and the trouble with James Bond is that there's so many to choose from."

"I say Star Wars," she replied. "But you already knew that."

"Yeah. That's what we told everyone, but Daniel said we should ask you to be polite. He's putting it in now, I think. Come on." She slid off the bed and linked arms with the two boys. Adam closed the door as they left and let Maurae and Charlie preceed him down the stairs. Loud voices were already coming from the living room where they'd left the rest, and he wondered whether Fulton and Daniel were having a fight, or whether Shayne had taken exception to his brother, as she'd already done once that evening.

It turned out to be Shayne, yelling at Daniel's friend Rick, whom, she claimed, had grabbed her butt. Fulton had his arm around her waist and was holding her back from jumping on the bigger boy, the one smirking at her from a safe distance. Maurae smiled and raised an eyebrow.

"Typical Shayne," she said in a voice loud enough to carry over her cousin's shouts. Immediately, the darker girl stopped struggling in Fulton's arms and glared at her. "Oh, please. As if I'm afraid of _that_ look," she said.

"He grabbed my ass, Rae." Maurae tilted her head and looked over at the leering boy, raised her eyebrow further and smiled wickedly.

"So were you trying to punch him, or kick him?" she asked blandly.

"Oh, no!" Daniel said, jumping instantly between Maurae and his friend. "You aren't going to be beating anyone up tonight. Either of you."

"Take it easy, Daniel," Maurae said, waving a hand dismissively as she took a seat on an armchair. "I don't hit other girls." And as Shayne opened her mouth to refute it and ruin the insult, Maurae spoke up loudly again with, "And Shay doesn't count."

"Make up your mind, already," her cousin declared. "Are you on my side or not?"

"Of course I am, love," she drawled in response. "I threatened to beat up someone bigger than me for you, didn't I?" Shayne rolled her eyes and wriggled out of Fulton's grip to sit on the couch in a huff. "You just aren't used to being the only girl in a crowd of teenage boys."

"That's right," Shayne said, imitating her careless drawl. "When was the last time I stopped by your house?" A surprised snort of laughter escaped Maurae before she managed to control herself enough to frown at Shayne. The banter war between the two girls had effectively diffused the situation, which had been Maurae's intention to begin with, though she hadn't planned on Shayne's help; her memory of the other teen was of a semi-volatile temper that usually took much longer to cool after igniting.

"So, are we watching this movie or what? I do have homework I could be doing," Maurae said. Several incredulous stares were thrown her way. The only person, in fact, that she didn't get one from, was Adam, who'd been thinking along the same lines.

"You have all weekend to do your homeowork," Daniel finally said, picking up the remote and starting the movie.

Maurae settled back in bliss as the opening strains of Star Wars filled the air, not noticing the amused smirk Shayne sent her over her sigh of delight, or the smile Adam gave her as he settled onto the floor next to the coffee table. Or Daniel's expressive eye-roll when she squirmed in her chair and began reciting lines with the characters. It was how she watched movies, and half the time she didn't realize she was doing it. It could be irritating if she started speaking out loud, but right then she was only moving her lips.

She barely moved, even to shift position, until the ending credits had started to roll. And it was still only barely seven pm. Daniel's friend Rick, sat up and looked the room over at large. "I say we break for food and watch the next one."

Maurae had only opened her mouth when Adam broke in. "We know you're okay with it, Ro," he said, not even having looked at her. A small, secret smile tugged at his lips. "You can't seem to say no to Star Wars."

"Oh shut up, you!" she said, sticking her tongue out at him like the mature adult she claimed to be. He only shook his head, grinning. "Bite me," she muttered, swinging her legs off the arm of the chair she'd been perched in, and groaning as they started to tingle with suddenly renewed blood flow. He only smiled his charming, good boy smile and offered her a hand up, which she accepted, using him to stabalize herself as the tingles turned to pain and then subsided enough for her to walk into the kitchen, albeit shakily.

"This is fun," Charlie said from behind them. Both turned and moved a little farther apart to offer the third member of their trio some room. "I love watching movies instead of doing homework or practicing with that..."

"Charlie," Maurae chided.

"I'm serious, he's like...like Bombay got when we called him Captain Blood!" Maurae sighed.

"I thought we agreed not to talk about that this weekend," she started. Charlie shrugged. "I love watching movies too," she said firmly, her lips a thin line, warning her friend not to ruin the good mood that watching Star Wars with friends had engendered. "Especially Star Wars."

"We know," the boys said in unison, then grinned at her. It was a mark of how good of friends they really were. Maurae locked arms with Charlie and dragged him into the kitchen, where she grabbed a slice of pizza in one hand and a plate in the other and stood watching in awe and disgust as Fulton shoved a handful of Cheetos into his mouth. There was a similar expression of stunned disbelief on Shayne's face, quickly morphing into identical disgust.

"Well, at least I wasn't planning on kissing him," she said dryly, sending a smug smirk towards Shayne. Fulton reddened and Shayne glared murderously at her cousin, silently vowing revenge.

"Well at least I have someone to kiss," she shot back viciously. Maurae's face went dead pale and Shayne suddenly worried that she'd finally gone too far with her cool-tempered cousin; she knew that her so-called "lack" of a love-life was a sore spot with Maurae. The rest of the room's occupants were waiting, holding their breaths, to see what the girl would do or say.

Sure enough, her eyes glittered dangerously as she opened her mouth to reply. "If you weren't my cousin, I'd strangle you for that," she said softly.

"It slipped out."

"I'm sure it did. Make sure nothing else I want kept private slips out, shall we." Even Shayne could tell it wasn't a question. Adam, Charlie, and Fulton breathed a sigh of relief. None of them had looked forward to the possibility of having to hold Maurae back. The smaller girl was terrifying when she was outraged; she didn't seem to care if she got hurt herself, so long as the other person felt her anger. Shayne knew this well, from the rare occasions during their shared childhood when Maurae had lost her temper. Maurae smiled then, and put the pizza on the plate she was holding before it dripped grease onto the tile floor. "I'm up for the second movie. Who's with me?" She didn't wait for an answer, but cheerfully left the room and returned to her favorite chair.


	25. Monday Mornings Suck

"Monday Mornings Suck"

Maurae groaned and stretched when her alarm clock, rather, the Banks' alarm clock in the guest room, went off at six on Monday morning. She loved spending the weekend at the Banks' but it usually meant she was worn out by Monday, which wasn't good for her early classes. At least Orion hadn't called practice for this Monday morning; that was a small blessing.

She had her jeans on and was pulling on a t-shirt when Adam banged on the door and shouted for her to hurry up or they'd be late. She yanked the door open with one hand as she straightened the shirt with the other. "Honestly, you'd think I'd been in the shower for an hour or something," she said reproachfully. "We aren't going to be late. We're never late. No matter when we leave, your dad always seems to get us there on time."

"That's the problem this morning," he groused, running his fingers through his already messy hair. "Mom's driving us this morning." She froze in the act of reaching up to fix his hair and stared at him.

"Why didn't you tell me this last night?" she asked, regaining her composure and trying to flatten the stubborn spikes with her fingers. "I'd have gotten up an hour earlier." She licked her lips and pressed a particularly stubborn hank of hair down.

"Ro..." he murmured.

"Hmm?" she said, distracted.

"Ro, stop it," he said, his voice low. She met his eyes but was unable to keep them and blushed, looking down swiftly and stepping back.

"Sorry. But I fixed it," she added defensively, as she went back into the room and grabbed her hastily re-packed bag. "Let's get going." He agreed heartily and followed her as they thundered down the stairs.

"Mom! Mom, we're ready to go!" Adam's mother, a lovely woman to be sure, save she was a little scatterbrained, emerged from the kitchen, holding two plates of eggs and sausage. Maurae tried not to blanch. "Mom, we don't have time for that!" Adam exclaimed. "Besides, Maurae doesn't eat eggs, remember?"

"Oh, of course! Sorry, Rae. But you two need to eat something!"

"We'll have some Pop Tarts in the car. We've got to get going!"

"Daniel took the last Pop Tarts with him yesterday," Maurae reminded him, shutting up when he shot her a glare that said clearly, 'you aren't helping!' She smiled in return. "Well, I'm sure your mom made toast. Come on, we've got to hurry if we're even going to ge there before the first bell!" Adam nodded.

"Come on, Mom, hurry up."

"So impatient," Kelly teased. "All right, all right! Come on, then." Sighing softly in relief, both teens hoisted their bags and led the way out to the car, throwing their things in the back and jumping in after them. Neither dared to really look at the other, for fear of laughing out loud, so they kept their bags piled between them and looked out the opposite windows. Exactly thirty-two minutes later, the car pulled into the school's parking lot. Before it had even completely stopped, both had their belts unbuckled and were bounding from it.

"See you next weekend, Ma!" Adam shouted as they ran through the front doors of their dorm building. When he stopped at the elevator, she waved and headed for the stairs. "Are you insane?" he grumbled as he followed reluctantly. "That's five flights up!"

"Four for me, Ads, and nobody said you had to follow me, you know." She took the stairs at a run and was already halfway up the first flight by the time he, shaking his head, started up at a slightly fast walk. She reached her floor, breathing hard, long before him and darted through the door to run down the hall.

"Slow down, Ro!" called Russ, amused as she flew past him. "You've got almost twenty minutes!" She literally skidded to a stop and turned to look at him incredulously.

"Twenty- ADAM!" She dropped her bag in the hall and ran back to the stairs, where Adam had just reached the fourth floor landing. He smiled sheepishly and saluted, jogging up the last flight to the Varsity floor above. She shook her head, not sure whether to be furious or amused and decided to be both.

"Have a good weekend?" Charlie asked, coming up behind her, with her bag slung over his shoulder. She nodded absently, pulling her keys out of her pocket and leading her human packhorse to her room, which she quickly unlocked. Taking the bag from him, she chucked it at her bed and picked up her backpack, neatly packed as she'd left it. Then she remembered that she'd left some of her French homework in her overnight bag and went to grab it, stuffing it into the binder in her backpack.

"How was yours, after the movie fiasco on Friday?" she asked when she'd rejoined him in the hallway.

"Cool, I guess. I actually did my homework I was so bored."

"I'm so proud of you!" she teased in a singsong. "Our little Charlie's all grown up now!"

"I wouldn't go that far," he protested with a laugh. He didn't want to tell her about Linda yet. He'd only just convinced the girl to come to that night's game, and he wanted to savor that victory, if that was what it turned out to be, before he went bragging to his friends, even his best friends. (AN: I know the game was supposed to be on a Friday, but it never made sense to me that the Varsity asked the JV to dinner on FRIDAY, when the day before had, ostensibly, been a Friday). "I'm still mostly the same old Charlie."

"Of course you are," she said distractedly, watching the Varsity boys crowd Adam down the stairs. She watched her friend wistfully for a moment before she shook herself out of the daze and followed Charlie down to the first floor. They walked across campus as a team, and filed into biology the same way. Maurae took her seat between Julie and Adam and pulled out her homework, setting it in the corner of her desk for pickup when the bell rang in five minutes. Then she turned and grinned at Adam.

"I need to talk to you this afternoon," he said. "During detention, maybe, but before your game this afternoon, okay?" She raised an eyebrow at his ambiguity, but didn't comment on it for the moment.

"Sounds good to me. I'll wait for you until three. After that, though, I've got to get ready and out on the ice. Orion will bust my ass if I'm any later than that." He nodded and fished around in his own backpack for the homework they'd completed together on Saturday morning, with Daniel in the background, shouting out Aerosmith lyrics. He set it on his desk just as Madigan whisked by, pulling the first row's homework into a pile and moved onto the second row.

"Pull out your pencils and nothing else. Practice quiz time!" she barked. Maurae restrained herself from rolling her eyes, though she really, really wanted to. She'd probably get detetnion for it, knowing the witch woman. She glared at the paper packet placed in front of her and wrote her name and the date on the lines provided. "You have a half hour. Begin."

First question._ Name the full formal Latin name of a gray wolf, an African elephant, and a lily of the valley._ Off the top of her head, Maurae knew Canus lupus, but couldn't remember the other two right away. She moved on to the next question.

_Diagram the first four offspring of a homogeneous blue-eyed parent and a heterogeneous brown-eyed parent. Brown eyes are a dominant characteristic._ Maurae easily filled in the diagram and moved on. Twenty questions later, she felt relatively confident about her answers, but still couldn't, for the life of her, remember the Latin names of either the African elephant or the lily of the valley. She shrugged and left both blank, still hoping to run across the answer somehow.

"Pencils down, time's up," Madigan said briskly, following her words with a sweep to pick up the tests. "Back rows, pass them forward. Front row, pass them to the left." Maurae obeyed when Julie handed the sizable pile to her, and added her four tests, passing them on to Adam on her left. He grinned at her and passed them further along. "Now, today, we continue today with our lecture on the latin naming system. By the way," she added as she picked up the tests, "The first question was a trick question, as we've not done that yet." Half the class groaned. "It will be worth six extra credit points, to any who correctly took a stab at it." Maurae smiled. That meant two extra points for her. "Now..." Maurae took notes dutifully, but her mind started to wander to what it was Adam wanted to talk to her about.

She was shaken out of her musings when Julie elbowed her as she stood up to leave. "Oh, is class over already?" she asked dumbly, quickly packing her stuff in her backpack and got up. She waved goodbye to the others as she and Julie hurried to catch up with Russ and Ken, so they could walk to math class together.

Monday passed in a flash and then it was Monday afternoon, and Maurae was leaving detention. Adam gave her a 'go ahead' motion, along with his mouthing of 'I'll catch up with you,' that it took true talent to decipher. She nodded and hurried off towards the ice rink to suit up. She would give Adam the ten minutes she'd promised him, but when he hadn't shown up by ten to five, she took one last look around and ducked into the JV locker room, shaking her head ruefully. She'd just have to track him down before his game, right after the JV match.

"There you are!" Charlie exclaimed when she walked in. "You'd better hurry up and get changed. Orion was in here about ten minutes ago and wanted to know where you were. I told him you were probably getting the rest of your gear from your room. Where were you?"

"Waiting for Adam," she replied.

"You've gotta remember that he's on Varsity now," Goldberg commented. Maurae whipped around to look at him.

"He's our _friend_, Goldberg," she retorted sharply. "Remember _that_!" The chubby boy blanched and looked away from her fierce glare. "It doesn't matter what _team_ he's on. He's still Adam."

"Right. I know that," Goldberg muttered to apease her. "I just meant that..."

"I know what you meant, Goldie," she replied softly. "I know he's on the other side now, but that doesn't matter in this game, so..." The others nodded in agreement. They all thought it sucked that Adam had made Varsity without them. Maurae smiled and started to change at warp speed, seeing as the others were almost completely changed.

"Sit," Julie commanded, appearing with a brush and elastic band so she could braid Maurae's long hair before they went out. Connie, Julie, and Maurae usually switched off braiding each other's hair, but since Maurae had been late today, Julie was going to have to do hers as well as Connie's. Maurae sat and let the blonde brush out her ponytail before beginning to quickly and efficiently braid it.

As she tied it off, they heard the buzzer, signalling that they had twenty minutes to warm up before the game started.

"All right, Ducks," Charlie said with a grin. "Let's do this."


	26. Mission: Unaccomplished

AN: Sorry this one is shorter than usual, and sorry if I got the dialgue wrong. I haven't seen the movie in over a year, so go easy on me. This chapter's dedicated to antiIRONY, who loves it when I update.

"Mission: Unaccomplished"

They were a sad group that filed into the locker room after the game. Their first game as a high school team, and they'd tied with Blake, 9-9. Charlie was the most upset, and everyone who looked at him quickly looked away from his thunderclouded expression. "The guy hooked me, all right?" he finally said sullenly.

"We didn't need any more goals," Ken pointed out softly, exhausted.

"Hey, listen, I was trying to win it!" their captain exploded at the smaller boy.

"Well, mission unaccomplished, Charlie," Averman snapped irritably.

"Huh?" Charlie said, standing up straighter, hurting for a fight, even with one of his friends.

"Charlie!" Maurae chided just as Guy spoke up with, "We let down, simple as that."

"Hey, _you_ let down," Connie said sharply, glaring at her off-again boyfriend...or was it on-again? "_I_ played hard." Then she shoved past him, sweat sticking loose hair to her face. Guy rolled his eyes and the tension deepened. Maurae shook her head and went to her locker, dropping onto the bench with nothing to say. She was less disheartened by the loss than she was by the fact that Adam hadn't even cheered them on. She'd spotted him in the stands, sitting with his new teammates, merely watching passively. When Charlie had scored, she looked over and found him smiling, but otherwise neutral. And after that, after every consecutive goal, he'd merely sat with his hands in his lap.

"Yeah, man," Luis spoke up then. "No heart." As soon as the words left his mouth and Charlie started to inflate, Maurae knew he'd said the wrong thing. He seemed to know it too, because he winced and shrank back into his locker.

"What are we playing for anyway?" Charlie demanded, throwing his gloves into the chain locker. "Some stupid school? The _alumni_?" He yanked at his jersey, where the red and black Warriors logo was prominent. "I mean, Warriors?" He yanked it over his head. "What are we now?"

"Look, man!" Russ exclaimed, shooting to his feet, blood pounding. "_We_'re on scholarship." He shook his head ruefully. "I'm staying."

"Fine, sellout," Fulton growled, the combination of Portman's desertion and the loss making his temper short.

"Man, who you callin' a sellout, punk!" Russ shouted, shoving Fulton, who responded by jumping back at him. Half the team dove in between the boys to try and stop it, only to end up fighting with someone. Even Maurae's temper was at boilong point and she jumped in to try and salvage their team spirit a little.

She didn't get far, because the door slammed against the wall and the bang startled them into letting go of each other. "How long does it take to score a goal?" he asked, voice hard. He pulled back his arm and the whole team ducked reflexively as the game's puck sailed over their heads to thud into the bulletin board, leaving a sizable dent. Fascinated, Maurae watched the positions list float gently to the floor. "Less than a second!" Orion continued, now that he had their undivided attention. "That means no lead is safe, if you can't play defense! Now, I want one number on your minds, ZERO as in, shutout. You got that?" He was standing firmly in front of Charlie, whose face had gone from angry to mulish, to mutinous. "You got that?" Dead silence. Orion turned angrily. "Practice. Tomorrow, five am. You got to get up early if you want to hunt goose eggs." And then he left, leaving them in silence.

With an almost universal sigh of release, they broke up to go to their own lockers and get dressed. It was Guy who noticed it first. "Hey, who took my clothes?" Instinctively, the rest checked their own lockers and Maurae had a sudden sinking feeling. Her locker was closest to the showers. Showers which were running.

"I think I know," she said softly, motioning with her chin towards the steaming tiles. The others leapt forward to look.

"They put our clothes-?" Goldberg blurted, stumbling into Averman from behind, his eyes widening when he saw the soggy mess on the floor.

"That answers your question, doesn't it?" Averman replied. Goldberg rolled his eyes at his friend. Maurae pulled off her skates and thick socks, stowing them in her locker. Then she ducked into her overlarge jersey and pulled off her pads underneath it, tossing them into her bag. Next came the rest of her padding, until she was left in the pair of stretch pant and the undershirt they all wore under their gear. She pulled on her normal shoes and stood.

"I think I know what Adam was going to tell me after detention today," she said in a low voice. "I'm going to head over to my room to get some clean clothes. Anyone want me to bring them theirs?" She received head shakes; they would just change in their rooms and take private showers for once. Maurae tried to ignore the significant looks Russ and Julie were exchanging, and decided that she didn't want to know what kind of revenge they were already planning.

Instead of going to her room, Maurae took a side trip back into the rink, where Varsity was just finishing their warm-ups in preparation for their own face-off against Blake. She hurried to the seats behind the team's box, ignoring the reproachful looks she was receiving from the board members.

"Adam," she said from right behind him. On either side of him, Riley and another boy she knew was named Mike Larson, turned to look. They snorted with amusement upon seeing her attire. She knew she looked ridiculous. Adam looked up and blinked. "You knew about this?" she asked simply. He nodded, his blue eyes meeting hers squarely, telling her he'd tried to warn her. "You tried to stop it?"

"Oh, Banksie kept telling us it was a bad idea," Larson said with a leer for her, though Riley shot him a glare. The captain's idea had obviously been to make her think Adam had condoned it.

"Sorry, Ro," Adam said in an almost-whisper. She nodded, her eyes slightly warmer. Then she turned and left, hurrying back to her room to shower and change.

"You did _what_?" Maurae screeched at the lunch table the next day. Julie clapped a hand over her mouth and dragged her back into her seat. People had turned to look at them, still whispering about the tie. "Oh, Jules, please tell me you didn't..." she moaned, burying her face in her hands. Her foremost thought was, _Serves them right_, followed closely by, _I could have warned Adam._ Which is probably why Julie was only telling her now, instead of before, when they actually planned the prank.

"Yeah," Russ smirked. "Frozen solid, every single one. And...you saw the messgae they left for us on the wall, right? We left them a similar message on the high wall. It'll be harder to get off, too." He and Ken slapped palms, grinning. The rest of the team looked pleased, so she smiled, though it was more pained than amused.

"It'll be fine, Ro," Charlie said, shrugging.

"Why didn't you tell me this morning?" she asked. "Or last night?"

"Because we didn't get the chance. You and Carrie ate breakfast together this morning, and last night you never came into the study room." Maurae shook her head. "And Adam is in our classes this morning, so we kind of expected him to say something. But when he didn't..."

"Oh, no! You guys!" she groaned, covering her ears. Julie smiled and patted her arm.

"Relax, Ro," she said soothingly. She would have said more, but Averman cleared his throat and chuckled into one hand.

"Check out the new jackets, guys," he said through his laughter, which he'd disguised as coughing. Almost as one, they turned to look, but Charlie whipped back around when he found his eyes level with Riley's armpit.

"Congrats on the Blake game!" the Varsity captain all but roared. Charlie started to scowl, a danger sign. No one made any mention fo the previous night's pranks, though Maurae was sorely tempted. There was something in Riley's smile that made her uneasy.

"Yeah right, we tied," Charlie growled.

"Hey, a point's a point," Riley assured him. "You guys proved your guts. We're all Warriors now." She wasn't entirely sure he was even referring to the game anymore, which confused her slightly. Were these pranks just the Varsity's way of hazing? Of initiating the newcomers? "You all set for dinner Friday?"

That threw them all off. "Dinner?" Charlie repeated.

"It's an Eden Hall tradition," Riley said smoothly. "Varsity got to treat the freshmen to dinner. So round up your posse and meet us at...six. At the MInnesota Club downtown. Any body need a ride, we can take you. You guys do like steak and seafood, right?"

"Ph-yeah we do!"

"Good." He straightened and motioned with his head for the rest of his team to follow him out. Cole stepped towards the table and frowned.

"Look, I don't like you pukes, all right?" he began, causing a ripple of stifled giggles down the table. No one seemed to be immune, either. Behind him, Adam rolled his eyes. "But this is tradition. And at Eden Hall, I learned to care about tradition." He tapped Adam's shoulder and started off to follow the rest of the team.

Adam grinned. "It's cool!" he assured them. Then he hurried off.

"It's cool."

"Banks says it's cool."

"I guess we'll go, then."

Maurae breathed a sigh of relief that the feud had finally worn down. Life was already exhausting enough without having to worry about being hazed by the Varsity boys.


	27. Let the Prank Wars Begin

"Let the Prank Wars Begin"

Maurae tried to turn around and look in the mirror, but Carrie restrained her. It was Friday night, almost six pm. "Not until I'm done, girl. Geez, you're worse than a girl on her first date!" When Maurae flushed, Carrie smirked. "Don't tell me you've never been on a date?"

"I haven't," Maurae admitted. "But give me a break, I'm only fourteen. I've only ever kissed one boy, and that was Dwayne, during the camp fire after the tournament last year." Carrie nodded.

"I remember you telling me about that. But isn't your Dwayne courting Kitty Granger?" Maurae smiled tightly. Kitty Granger was a tiny little thing that frequented the drama club. And Dwayne had fallen hard for her.

"Yeah. But I told you, Dwayne and I were never a couple. We kissed a couple of times. I've never had a real boyfriend."

"Ever wanted one?"

"Maybe. Hey, what's with the third degree? I thought you were going to do my hair for tonight?"

"I am. You're all done."

"Finally!" Maurae exclaimed as she stood and turned to look in the mirror. Her mouth fell open. "Carrie...!"

"You like it?"

"Like it? I love it! You're so awesome!" Carrie had straightened all of Maurae's long, thick mane, and had twisted the top half of it into a fancy braid, from which wispy strands escaped to curl against her face. "You made me look like a movie star!" The light makeup Carrie had talked her into applying made her look different than usual. Add the fancy skirt and blouse she'd chosen, and she would call herself rather pretty.

"Do you think...?" she began before she realized what she would have said aloud. She reddened slightly and smiled at her reflection.

"I think Adam's jaw will hit the floor," Carrie filled in. "Along with every other one of your teammates. That is what you wanted to know, right?" Carrie grinned at the eye roll Maurae responded with and touched her shoulder. "That _is_ what I was aiming for. If he didn't want to kiss you before, he definately will now."

"Stop playing matchmaker," Maurae said sternly, but the smile that teased her lips and the sparkling of her eyes gave the lie to her words. Carrie only smiled, intuitively guessing how her roommate felt about her friend.

A brisk knock sounded at the door and Maurae shivered, her stomach twisting nervously. She'd only ever dressed up in front of the team once, and she'd been twelve at the time. Now she was almost fifteen, and she didn't know what they would think. "That would be your ride. Are you going to get it, or should I?" teased Carrie. Maurae glared at her roommate and left the bathroom to open the door.

"Ro, we...holy shit!" Carrie smiled with smug pride as she listened to Ken Wu's stunned voice. Her roommate was blushing furiously, but Carrie was trying not to laugh. "We...uh, well, we're, um...ready to go. Scooter's giving us a ride...um, you look nice."

"Thanks, Ken," she replied breezily, grabbing her purse and twiddling her fingers at Carrie, noting her smirk, and then she was gone, out the door. Carrie got to it in time to watch Ken stare after her dazedly, then suddenly remember he was supposed to be going with her. She closed the door, sighing in satisfaction, and returned to her homework.

Maurae and Ken made it all the way to the first floor in silence, and he hurried to open the door for her, staring avidly, as though just realizing she was, in fact, a girl. She found it both disconcerting and flattering. He led her to the parking lot where Julie, Adam, Charlie, and Russ were waiting with Scooter, Mike Larson, and Dean Taylor, another Varsity boy. Julie and Russ were talking, leaning against the bench on the sidewalk.

The boys saw Ken first, but Julie's eyes passed over him and her jaw dropped when her eyes met Maurae's. "You're back faster than expected, Wu," Larson said, not seeing her, as she was right behind Ken.

"Yeah, we expected it to take longer," Charlie teased, craning his neck to see his friend. "Cause Ro takes so long in the shower and- holy crap!" His mouth fell open and stayed that way. "Shit! Ro, is that you?"

"One and the same," she said tartly.

"Are you wearing _makeup_?"

"It would seem that way, wouldn't it?" she shot back. Julie winked at her and grinned.

"I like your hair. Carrie?"

"Yeah. She practically tackled me when I got out of the shower. Made me sit until she'd dried it and styled it. I was bored out of my mind." She smirked at Julie and raised her eyebrow at her teammates. "Stop staring. I'll go back to being a tomboy tomorrow."

"We're not staring," Adam said in a dazed tone, though that was clearly not the case. "You look amazing." For a reason inexplicable to her and Adam, she flushed and looked away. Julie and Russ exchanged knowing looks, Charlie grinned as his gaze passed from one to the other and back again, Ken nodded to himself, and the Varsity boys shared sly smiles.

"Well, let's get going. We don't want to be late," Scooter said, opening the front door for Julie, who slid in with a small smile. He closed it once she was settled and moved to open the back door, but Adam jumped in front of him and yanked it open for Maurae. She, too, smiled as she slid in, her smile widening when he slid in next to her. The rest piled in and Scooter pulled out of the lot once they were belted in. Music blared from the superior stereo system, inhibiting conversation, so the ride was verbally silent. Maurae and Julie both "car danced" to the varying music, something all the guys found amusing. However, both girls ignored their grins and snickers.

It was almost six-twenty when they pulled up to the front door of the restaurant. Maurae, Julie, Russ and Ken all stared, having never seen the place that the in-state player considered part of the scenery.

The Minnesota Club was an exclusive restaurant in Minneapolis that normally none of the JV players could possibly have afforded, even as a group. But then again, they were all scholarship students. In fact, Adam was the only one who could have paid for his own meal among them. But since Varsity was paying...

Maurae was extremely gratified by the reaction of the rest of the party once they'd arrived. Luis was practically drooling and Adam almost got into a fistfight with the Latin boy when it came to choosing seats. In the end, Adam won, and he seemed quite happy about it too. Connie, Julie, and Maurae, being the only three girls present, exchanged compliments and started up their own conversation until they placed their orders.

"A salad?" Adam asked, aghast, when Maurae ordered a simple chicken Caesar. "That's all you're eating?"

She raised an eyebrow as the private room went slightly quieter. "You have a problem with what I want?" she asked pointedly.

"No," he said, ducking his head as he flushed. "It's just...this place has the best seafood in Minnesota! I know you love seafood. I kind of thought..."

"I'm having a Caesar salad, Adam." Her voice was firm. "Just because someone else is paying for my dinner doesn't mean I'm going to make a pig of myself." She handed her menu to the waiter, who smiled. A flash of teeth on Adam's other side made her look at Rick Riley. There was amusement in his smile, true, but there was also some bit of malicious enjoyment, something that made her exceedingly uncomfortable. She stood, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder. Julie, seeing where she was headed, leaned forward and raised an eyebrow at her. Maurae shook her head and left the room, headed for the bathroom.

When she got back, she slipped into her chair and Adam shot her an apologetic smile. She grinned and shook her head. His smile grew and he tilted his head towards Riley and rolled his eyes. That made her snicker, which she covered up with a sip of water when Riley glanced at her. She waited for him to look away and then rolled her eyes back at Adam. She then leaned close and fell into conversation with her best friend, probably the longest uninterrupted conversation they'd had since Adam had made Varsity, until their food arrived.

And when it did, Adam, naturally, offered her some of his shrimp alfredo. Which she, naturally, accepted with a smile. During food transfer, their eyes met and their smiles, the same in brightness, met and they stared at each other for a long time that lasted only a few seconds. And then both looked away. They avoided each other's gazes for the rest of the meal.

At one point, several of the boys got up to go to the bathroom, Adam among them. A moment after they left, Guy got up to follow. Maurae swallowed the bite of salad she was chewing and smiled. "And guys complain that _we_ go to the bathroom in packs," she drawled dryly. Everyone chuckled and went back to their food.

When Adam returned, he looked depressed, but when she touched his arm gently, he wrenched away and wouldn't even look at her. The next few moments saw the rest of the departed boys returning, including Guy, who looked faintly gleeful about something.

Riley stood and tapped his glass with his knife. "On behalf of the Eden Hall Varsity state champion hockey team, I'd like to welcome the future state champs. The Eden Hall freshmen. Hear, hear!" Everyone laughed and raised their glasses, sipping at whatever they were drinking. "We're just glad you loaned us Banksie so we'd have a chance to beat you in the annual JV-Varsity showdown." He clapped Adam's shoulder hard then and Maurae watched her friend grimace, eyes fixed on the table angrily. "Now, nobody move. We've got one last surprise." Murmurs of speculation rippled among the Ducks as the Varsity boys started to stand and leave the private room. Riley grabbed Adam's shoulder when he stayed put. "Banksie," he said. The force he put behind it, and the warning in his tone made Maurae suspicious. She tried to grab Adam's arm, but he managed to evade her. Panic started rising then. Adam would never shake her off like that if she wanted his attention badly.

Once they were gone and the doors were closed, Guy grinned. "I don't want to spoil anything, but I overheard something in the bathroom. It's a cake!" The teammates nodded and smiled in appreciation. Maurae frowned, still concerned about Adam. The doors opened. "Act surprised, all right?" Guy added hurriedly.

No, none of them had any trouble acting surprised when the cake was rolled in. Goldberg read the script. "Thanks for dinner..._losers!_"

"Oh, man!" Guy moaned, sinking back into his chair as the maitre'd handed Charlie the bill. Reluctantly, the captain flipped the slip over and almost immediately started to loosen his tie, mouthing the total in complete disbelief. He tossed the bill on the table where Maurae picked it up.

"Eight hundred and fifty-seven dollars!" she exclaimed in horror.

"Where are we going to get that kind of cash?" Goldberg wailed.

* * *

Arms and legs aching from the endless cleaning and physical labor she'd been doing for the last three hours, Maurae trudged into her dorm building. The others had headed to the rink for some therapy-skating, and some decent revenge planning, but Maurae had something she needed to do before she even thought of therapy...or payback.

She unlocked the dorm hall's front door and started towards the stairs, but bit back a groan of the thought of climbing all those stairs. Instead, she leaned against the wall, pressing the elevator call button. Her pretty outfit, though still intact, was now decorated with bits of food pieces from the dishwashing. Her hair was a bit loose and more wisps were sticking to her face, courtesy of the sweating she'd done during the working off of their bill.

Once the elevator arrived, she hit the button for five and waited for the car to grind upwards. When the door opened, she stepped out and looked around. Several doors were open, which meant that the Varsity boys were awake, which was good, for her purposes. She heard voices and laughter coming from Scott and Adam's room, so that's where she headed. She wanted to talk to Adam anyway.

Stopping in the doorway, she took in the scene. Varsity players were sprawled over every available surface, and they were laughing and joking among themselves. Slowly, they noticed her and nudged those near him to shut up. She waited for silence and then Riley's inevitable smart remark.

Sure enough, "Hey there, princess. Something we can help you with?"

She ignored him completely. "Adam?" He looked up reluctantly, almost afraid to meet her eyes. "One question, and then I'm going back downstairs."

"Y-yeah?"

"Did you know?"

He hesitated and that was the last straw.

Her eyes widened and started to fill. "I stood up for you!" she whispered, struggling to contain her tears. "They told me to think of you as the enemy, and I _defended you!_"

"Ro, I-"

"Save it," she said coldly. "I can't deal with any of this right now."

"Ro!"

"Maybe tomorrow, Banks," she said stiffly. "When I've had a chance to calm down and think rationally again." It was more her calling him by his last name that kept him from trying once more to defend himself. She turned, but Riley wasn't about to let her get away with ignoring him.

"Hey, Grabeklis, who'd you dress to impress? Cause I'm impressed enough to pay you." She went rigid then turned, tears vanished from her eyes, replaced by anger.

"You want to pay me, Riley? Eight hundred and fifty-seven freaking dollars. That's my price. So you can: Kiss My Ass," she replied. Then she flashed an evil smile and whirled, leaving before he could have the last word. She ran down the stairs and stood outside her own door, staring at it for a minute before she sighed and pulled out her keys and unlocked it.

Carrie looked up and immediately knew something was wrong. "Girl, are you...?" Maurae looked up and scowled. Then she picked up her math textbook and hurled it at the closet. That wasn't enough, so she picked up her skates and chucked them, one after another, at the offending wardrobe. With a scream that was half sob, she threw her whole bag at the closet and then threw herself onto her bed, burying her face in her pillow, unable to hold in the tears any more.

_That_ worried Carrie more than the inexplicable violence. She slipped off her bed and settled herself next to Maurae's shaking shoulders. "What's wrong?" she demanded.

"My life is shit," was the muffled response, and that was all Carrie could get her to say until someone knocked gently on the door. Getting up, Carrie hurried to it and threw it open to reveal Charlie, a wicked grin on his face.

He saw Carrie's worried expression and Maurae's heaving shoulders and surmised what had happened. He entered without a word and sat next to her on the bed. "He knew, didn't he?" he asked softly.

"He knew," she spat as she pushed herslef up, her face wet and her makeup smeared. Trying not to laugh, Charlie handed her a tissue to wipe her eyes, which she took gratefully and carefully wiped the remaining makeup off. "Charlie, I called him Banks. That's the first time I've ever done that. I felt like I was insulting him."

"From you, it is an insult," Charlie replied. "But do you want to hear our plan, or what?"

"Plan?"

"Physics," Charlie said, and Maurae raised an eyebrow.

"How can you be thinking about homework right now?"

"No, not homeowrk, Ro. Revenge." Her expression changed dramatically and she smiled, a wicked smile matching his. "I take that as a yes. Okay, remember the fire ants in the dean's office?"

"I don't think I should be listening to this," Carrie said. She pulled on her earphones and turned her CD player on loud. Then she gave Charlie a thumbs-up and he smiled back and continued.

"We're going to set them loose in the Varsity rooms, after they go to sleep tonight." Maurae's face lit up with the ingenuity of the plan.

"Have you figured it all out yet?"

"That's partly where you come in. We've figured out how to get them and how to keep the Varsity in their rooms, but no idea how to actually get the ants to go into the rooms and onto the beds and stuff." Maurae gnawed on her lip and stared at her hands as she pondered the problem. A picture started to resolve in her head and she used her hands to act it out for herself. Then she grinned triumphantly.

"That might work," she said softly, mostly to herself. "If we get some fishing line and a couple of poles...and we'd have to have lookouts to help us aim them..." Her eyes focused on Charlie and he waited expectantly for her brilliant plan. "Okay, you know that clear tubing we use in chemistry? Well, we have to get a lot of that and fasten it together so we can put the ants in one end and have them just run out any number of different ends, onto the target beds."

"How do we get them onto the beds? And what in God's name is the fishing line for?"

"Getting them onto the beds," she replied as if it were obvious. "Look, you know the windows above the doors? They don't lock, so all you have to do is stick someone's head through with a fishing pole so they can 'catch' the end of the tube to lift it onto the beds. The lookout outside will use binoculars or something and direct them. With me so far?"

Nodding eagerly, he got up. "That's good," he said. "I'll go fill in the others so we can get the stuff for it. Does Carrie mind if we use your room as a construction area?"

"As long as you don't make her leave, I think she'll be fine with it. She's probably got a lot of good, loud music that would cover up the noise, too. But Charlie, I don't want to do it. You know how I feel about bugs." Eyes glittering, he nodded.

"Hey, you did your part just by coming up with the how. Let us worry about carrying it out."

"Thanks." He nodded and went to collect the others and the supplies.

Ten minutes later, they started to arrive, bearing something to help with the plan. With Carrie looking on, torn between being appalled and being impressed by their ingenuity, they began constructing the monstrous maze of tubing they'd need to infest the Varsity's rooms.

Fifteen minutes after curfew, the hall monitor banged on the door. Maurae got up and answered it, smiling her best good-girl smile as she leaned on the door, giving the others time to roll up and conceal their "project." He looked at her skeptically. "Lights out in there. Send the others back to their own rooms." She nodded, smiling again and opened the door wider so the others could leave. The pieces were rolled up inside sweatshirts and backpacks.

"Wow, thanks man," Fulton said as he passed. "We lost track of time. Night, guys!" He ducked into his room and the others waved or spoke cheery 'goodnights' as the warden watched suspiciously. When all the doors had closed and no lights showed under them, he finally left, going back to the first floor and his own room. Maurae tiptoed to the stairs and waited, holding her breath, until the first floor door banged shut behind him. She counted to five more and then ducked back inside, carefully closing the door behind her.

She knocked twice on Charlie's door, then went down the hall, repeating the gesture until they were all alerted. They had their roles: Connie and Guy were lookouts with binoculars, Dwayne would keep a mobile watch on the whole building, preventing any Varsity wanderings into the middle of the plan. Maurae would be their alibi, Charlie and Russ would fetch the ants from the dean's office, and the rest would actually set it all up.

"Good luck," she whispered.

"Sleep well," Charlie shot back with a grin as she closed and locked her door. She sighed as she sank onto her bed.

"Am I bad?" she asked Carrie.

"Depends," her roommate responded, rolling over in the dark to look at her.

"On what?" Maurae asked sleepily, drifting towards dozing off.

"On whether that was a rhetorical question or not. Good night, Rae."

"Hmm...night..." And then Maurae was asleep, oblivious to any noise her teammates might have made carrying out her plan.


	28. Broken Wings

**candynoel:** Don't worry. I'm going to put in some Julie/Scooter romance in later chapters, but it doesn't seem appropriate during an unofficial scrimmage where the two opposing team are trying to rip each other's heads off. I'll write a library scene just for you!

**punkteacher:** You know, a writer cannot receive too much praise for her work. I'm so glad you like it! Let me know if there's anything you'd like to see happen.

**antiIRONY:** As ever, girl, you are my most ardent supporter. And Shayne will be appearing in more scenes after Fulton quits the team...however temporarily. Have you ever wondered exactly _why_ he didn't want to keep hanging out with his almost-best-friend, Charlie? Was there maybe a girl involved...? Love ya, babe!

AN: This chapter is dedicated to my b-f: I love you; you drive me nuts sometimes!

"Broken Wings"

The insistent knocking on her door made Maurae groan and slit one eye to glare at it. Carrie slept through everything but her alarm clock, so she'd be no help. With a huge sigh, Maurae threw her blankets off and padded across the floor to wrench open the door and stop the knocking ringing in her ears.

She stopped mid-yawn when she saw Charlie and the others gathered in front of her door, all wearing their warm-up clothes and carrying their skates. "Do I even want to know?" she asked sleepily, rubbing one eye as she blinked the other.

"Varsity issued a challenge. Come on, get dressed," Charlie said with a grin every bit as sleepy as hers. She continued to stare at him dumbly. "After last night..." Still, a blank stare. "We're going to show them who's the best..." She blinked again.

"Then why'd you wake me up?" she asked, her temper shortened by the early hour and the lack of sunlight. "Go show them, then, Captain Duck, and let me sleep." She made to shut the door in his face, but he got in the way.

"Come on, Ro, you're starting forward."

"No, I'm not, I'm third line," she said, more awake with each word, not a fact she was overly pleased with. And from the look in his eyes, her friend knew it too. "Damn you, Conway," she said with a sigh. She reached behind the door and pulled her sweatshirt off the hook, pulling it on over her sleep camisole. Slipping her flip-flops on, she pulled her hair into a very messy ponytail with the elastic tie she kept around her wrist and grabbed her skates. "I hate you. Don't talk to me." Then she grabbed a set of keys and closed the door behind her. "No more accepting challenges without a vote, okay? Or at least wait until the world is awake next time."

Since it was second nature for her to grumble in the morning, no one answered or paid it much attention as they made their way to the rink. Coincidentally, they arrived at the same time as Scooter and Adam. The latter glanced at them and away; the former shot the whole group a bemused smile and winked at the girls near the rear. Julie was the only one that really noticed, and she flushed slightly, turning to talk to Connie instead.

Maurae took a deep breath and looked over at Adam. He was, however, still staring resolutely away from his former teammates. That made Maurae's heart sink a little bit. She shook her head at herself and followed Charlie into the locker room, her shoulders squared. "I'm not even awake," she muttered darkly. She had noticed all the red bites from the ants over Scooter's face, and what little had been visible of Adam, so she knew her plan had gone over without a hitch. Of course, now they had to deal with the wounded pride of the Varsity team...

"Hey, girl, hurry up," Connie said, nudging her in the side. Maurae looked up and then down again. She'd managed to get most of her gear on without thinking about it, but she was still in the process of lacing her skates, while the rest of them were waiting patiently for her to finish. Concentrating on the task at hand, she was ready in an eye-blink and picked up her stick and helmet, jamming her gloves under her arm. Then she followed Charlie out onto the ice.

Skating came naturally, so she dumped off her gloves, stick and helmet in the box and started a few leisurely laps on their half of the rink. She and Charlie skated together, not talking, but merely working off each other as they usually did. Adam skated over hesitantly and she watched her captain's face darken angrily. This was more than a little thing between the two of them. Charlie was jealous, hating both himself for feeling the jealousy and Adam for making him jealous, hurt, and confused. High school wass a new world for them all, but their captain had a rougher time of it, seeing his already talented friend moving on while he was shoved backwards by a coach who was forcing him to play better than he thought he could. His temper was at the breaking point, and Maurae prayed that it wouldn't snap anytime soon.

"They didn't tell me until it was too late," Adam said softly as he drew even with them. Maurae lifted her head, but she looked at Charlie rather than at Adam. In doing so, she missed his crestfallen expression. To him, it may have seemed as if she were rejecting him, but she was really only making sure that she wouldn't have to restrain Charlie. She silently begged him to save it for the game. "Charlie...Ro, you have to believe me!"

"Yeah right, preppie," Charlie snapped, suddenly turning and zooming away. Adam's face fell and he looked away sadly. Maurae's first instinct was to put a comfoting hand on his arm, but she remembered that they were on opposite sides right then, and she was supposed to be mad at him. Catching sight of Riley's sharp gaze, after he'd just finished terrorizing Averman, helped firm her resolve not to forgive Adam until later. She turned and followed Charlie over to the bench, watching him silently punch the fiberglass.

"Things'll turn out, Charlie," she said, stepping into the box and taking a seat.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "You're starting!"

"No," she said softly. "I think you need this more than I do. You take the face-off. You know you and Riley have some issues you need to work out." His eyes spoke volumes to her, telling her she'd said the right thing, though she too, was now feeling the urge to show those boys just what she could do.

"You sure?" That tempted her to say she'd been kidding, but she smiled and nodded.

"I'll keep score," she teased. "You guys don't need me. Maybe I'll go back to sleep."

"Right, the old Team USA confidence. We'll shine the ice with them, is that it?"

"Right, sure," she grinned. He nodded and skated off, jamming his helmet onto his head. Her smile faded. "Of course, it was that kind of confidence that got us smeared all over the ice during the first Iceland game." She found herself reliving the nightmare of that humiliating defeat, but smiled, remembering also the shock evident on Gunnar Stahl and Olaf Sanderson's faces when she'd proven a better hockey player than they'd expected.

"Hey!" She looked up out of her musings to see Scooter waylaying Julie on her way to join Maurae on the bench. "Could we call it even?"

Typical Julie, more of a grouch in the morning than Maurae herself, answered in her best sarcastically-sweet tone, "I hate ties. They're like kissing your brother." Then she spun and climbed into the box next to number thirteen. Julie missed the amused, infatuated smile, but Maurae saw it clearly and hid a grin for Julie's sake.

'_That would be an adventure, I'm sure,_' she thought to herself, already planning a bit of matchmaking. '_I wonder how his teammates would take it..._' Her smile turned wicked for a split second. Then she looked up. The rest of teh benchies were joining them now, and Varsity's were headed to their own bench as well.

The silence in the rink was so profound that everyone heard the conversation (aka confrontation) between Charlie and Riley, the two captains, whether natural or assigned. "First to ten," Riley growled. "Full check."

"Bring it on," Charlie said, exuding confidence. Their sticks crashed together twice, then went for a third and suddenly Charlie was sitting on his butt on the ice, staring blankly after Riley, who was pelting off down the ice towards the defenseless Goldberg.

The game was swiftly regressing Maurae to that first JGW game against Icelend. Varisty was undoubtedly bigger and stronger than the Ducks, but what the younger lacked in strength and finesse, they made up for, barely, with their speed and cohesiveness. The major problem, as far as Maurae could detect, was that Adam was playing for the wrong side. He left a hole in their unity that wasn't so easily filled in.

Varsity scored, amidst cheers. Maurae and Luis jumped in, for Russ and Fulton. Varsity scored. Connie and Guy replaced Fulton and Luis. Varsity scored. The line-up remained the same, and they started off again, with the Ducks slowly but surely losing both their edge and their confidence. When Riley taunted Goldberg right in front of the net, Charlie snapped.

"What was that, huh?" he demanded, Maurae clinging desperately to the back of his jersey to keep him from doing anything violent and stupid.

"Let me at him, Charlie!" Connie yelled, skating in front of the captain. With Charlie now worrying about restraining the volatile girl, Maurae breathed easier and released him as they shoved out of the massive pileup around the Ducks' net. Dwayne held off the rest of Varsity while Charlie skated aside with Connie. "We can't win if they're going to cheat!" Connie pointed out.

"Don't show them we're hurt. Just keep skating." He glanced back and sighed, knowing he'd almost lost it with Riley in the confrontation, and would have jumped the other boy with both fists raised if he hadn't felt the hands gripping his shirt securely. He watched Maurae skate back to the bench and rip her helmet off, letting Ken jump in for her. She sat, hands shaking angrily, but otherwise calm. She watched as Varsity scored a fifth time, and sighed. When Charlie miraculously managed to get the puck and take off with it, she was the first on her feet, urging him on.

And then Adam sailed up on his right, getting in his way until Charlie, having finally had enough, abandoned the game and took his frustrations out on their object. Both boys, formerly best friends, sailed head-first into Scooter and the Varsity net, actually scoring if someone had been paying attention to technicality. In an instant, the rest of both teams had joined them, leaping over dropped sticks and gloves and over the fiberglass walls to reach them.

Adam and Charlie stood in the center of the melee, faceplates touching angrily. "Nice takeout; you'd be in the box!" Adam shouted.

"Go cry to your rich parents!" Charlie yelled back, shoving Adam back. The blond boy leapt at him, just as frustrated, and grabbed him around the neck. Fulton went straight to Cole and started playing with his head, as well as pushing him around. Averman and Russ were both at a bit of a disadvantage, picking fights with Varsity boys a lot larger than either of them. Ken and Julie had ganged up of Scooter, a safe choice, seeing as he was the only decent Varsity player they'd encountered.

And Maurae dove desperately at her warring friends, managing to get a secure grip on both jerseys. She started to haul them apart with all the strength she could muster, shouting almost-incoherent things at them at the same time. "To think I got out of bed for this!" she screeched. "You two are supposed to be best friends! Why are you letting this stupid team rivalry get in the way of that? Just_ listen _to me!"

The punch came out of nowhere, surprising both her and them; she didn't know who was more surprised by it. She, not knowing which one had delivered it, glared at both of them in more than anger. Her disappointment froze them cold. Adam, knowing that he was, in fact, the one who'd thrown the instinctive blow, stared guiltily from her to Charlie to his hands. "What is _wrong_ with you two?" she demanded, voice Arctic and dropping. "You're best friends," she continued as the individual fights raged beyond them all. They were like the eye of the hurricane of chaos. "You've been best friends for almost four years. What has gotten into you?"

"Ro, I-"

"I'm not finished," she interrupted. "I'm going to say what I've got to say. Adam, have I treated you any differently since you made Varsity?"

"No," he whispered, ashamed of his behavior.

"Charlie, is Adam any different than he was when he played for the Ducks?"

"No."

"Then what the hell is going on? Friends fight, I get that. But best friends do not throw real punches at each other, intending them to do damage. You guys are killing me! Do you know how much it hurts me to try and think of you as an enemy, Adam? Do you know how much it hurts me to see you, Charlie, force yourself to think of your best friend as you would a stranger? Why can't we be friends again? Sure, we're on opposing teams. So what? So, _shit_. It makes no difference who you play for, as long as your heart stays true to you and your friends."

"Ro..."

"Pranks are just pranks, Adam. They don't make you a bad person because you didn't warn us. NO more than it makes me a bad person for not warning you. I don't know exactly what your proelm is with each other. But you'd better _fix it_. I'm not going to speak to either of you until you do." She turned away just as the overhead lights erupted into brightness and a shrill whistle blast echoed through the cavernous rink.

"Everybody freeze! Varsity, out! Varsity team out, let's go!" Orion was suddenly among them. He grabbed the struggling Riley's helmet and brought it close to his face. "It's a damn good thing I'm not your coach, now get your team out of here." He let Riley go, and Varsity started to separate themselves from the Ducks. They headed for their locker room with small smiles on their faces. Adam looked downcast, shooting her a pleading look that she completely ignored. His own disappointment was softened when she ignored Charlie's attempts to get her attention as well.

"We're gonna destroy you guys!" Cole suddenly burst out. Appalled, Adam grabbed his teammate's arm and tugged.

"Come on, let it go," he urged the dumb brute. He didn't want to stay and face her accusing stares, nor did he particularly want to witness the lecture Orion would no doubt give his team. He left the ice without looking back, his shoulders slumped.

Maurae didn't even watch him go, though she wanted to. She wanted to follow him until he was out of the rink, but she held herself off, waiting for Orion's speech instead.

"I thought I told you to stay away from the Varsity!" When no one offered an explanation or an apology, his eyes narrowed. "And take off those Duck jerseys now." They hesitated, glancing at Charlie's gradually darkening expression. "Come on, take them off!" Most made a move to do so, but Charlie, Fulton, and Maurae continued to hesitate. Then Maurae shrugged slightly and pulled the jersey off over her head. Orion was glaring furiously at Charlie, whose expression was murderous. "The Ducks are dead. You've got two choices, Conway: take off the jersey right now or you don't play."

"You're breaking up the best thing any of us have ever had," Charlie ground out.

"Well, it's time to grow up," Orion snapped, managing to still sound somewhat kind.

"Grow up?" Charlie asked. His eyes flashed and Maurae knew he was about to stick his foot in his mouth; angry as he was, he'd only regret what he said later. He was going to continue, no matter what she did, so she knew not to waste her breath. "Like you, huh? A washed up pro as a show-off to a bunch of kids? Geez, that's _real_ grown up." Maurae's eyes went wide. She knew he was angry, but this was above and beyond anything she'd have expected from him.

Orion didn't bat an eye, though the tension in his jaw said plainly that he wanted to knock Charlie on his ass right there. The fact that he didn't was a testament to his self-control, and they respected him more for it; even Charlie, which only made his mood worse. "Okay, good-bye Conway." Charlie skated off without looking back. "Anyone else?" Fulton looked at them, then at Charlie, and slowly followed. "Good-bye Fulton. Look, no one's forcing you to be here. It's your lives. Only you can decide what to do with them." No one else moved, and he nodded, satsfied. "Okay. Twenty laps, then hit the showers." Obediantly, they picked up their gear, leaving the beloved Duck jerseys in a pile on the churned up ice near the displaced goal. Orion left the rink, but silence still reigned.

* * *

It was a somber group that left the JV locker rooms an hour later. No one wanted to look at anyone else, and they certainly didn't want to talk about it. Maurae went straight to her room and, in a rare moment of despairing helplessness, popped two of her tranquilizers- prescribed solely for use on airplanes due to an extreme phobia- and curled up, fetal-style in the middle of her bed. As she sank into blackness, she wished she hadn't gotten up that morning, instead, ignored the knocking.

Carrie tried to shake her awake a few hours later, after she'd missed breakfast and most of lunch. Giving up on the shaking approach, she went down the hall and banged insistently on Charlie's door. No one answered, but she kept it up, figuring he was still sleeping too, since the entire floor seemed to be dead.

"Charlie! Wake up!" she finally shouted.

"Charlie left," Julie said from behind her. Carrie turned.

"What? When will he be back?"

"He's not coming back. He left the team. It was all too much for him, I guess. Adam making Varsity without him, Maurae not speaking to him, his inability to work with Orion..."

"What on earth did I sleep through this morning?" Carrie demanded. "Maurae came back to the room at a little after eight, popped two tranqs and passed out. Now I can't get her to wake up."

"Two? Dry? Or did she take water with them?"

"She drained two glasses of water with them. Why? What difference does it make?"

"Dry is bad, even if she'd only taken one, but with two...she should be fine in a few hours. Just let her sleep. She's been through it...we all have. Now we're down about five players. It's ridiculous. We might as well all quit."

"The only reason we don't is because we won't give Varsity the satisfaction of running us off without a fight." The two girls turned to find Russ leaning against his doorjamb. "Did you find your notes, Jules?"

"Yeah, coming. Make sure Ro drinks some more water when she comes too, okay?" The blonde disappeared into Russ's room, and when Carrie peeked around the door, she saw Julie folded into her teammate's arms, sobbing into his shoulder. Her green eyes widened. If this was something that could make steady, cool-headed Julie Gaffney _cry_, then it was bad indeed. Maurae was far from flighty, and she'd been depressed enough to pop pills to escape reality. Carrie decided then that she didn't want to know, though intuition told her it had something to do with Adam and the rest of the Varsity team.

Shrugging, she went back dwon the hall, closed the door in case someone wanted to disturb her sleeping roommate, and then she continued out of the hall and down the stairs. She needed to talk to Cam and Teresa anyway...maybe she'd just spend the rest of the day with her theater friends. Maybe when she got back, Maurae would feel like talking about it.


	29. Interlude II: After the Weekend

**penman:** Your ideas have merit, but the morning after Hans' funeral was a Saturday, which is why the Ducks were playing street and why Orion had brought his daughter there. But you should totally write a story with your plan. It's a good one! I hope my story turns out good enough for your refined writer's palate. -wink-

**AN: **I love it when you guys tell me what I should do or not do! It makes me feel like somebody's actually paying attention. This chapter is dedicated to **antiIRONY** because she has put up with my distinct lack of inspiration far longer than she should have had to and because, girl, without you, Shayne would be nothing!

"Interlude: After the Weekend"

One look at the downcast faces at the Ducks' table told everyone that something was seriously wrong with the new hockey team. Varsity took it in and smiled their smug smiles, noting Charlie and Fulton's absences with something akin to glee. Riley was enthused. He thought that eventually, the rest would follow their captain and the school would be theirs once again.

He, and so many snobs like him, obviously hadn't taken into account the extreme tenacity of the freshman hockey players. Adam kept shooting looks over at them all through breakfast, trying to catch someone's eye, but they were all staring determinedly at the table or each other, all with glum expressions on their faces. He couldn't find any of the girls, but he figured they were still getting ready or something.

Not too many people were awake at seven, even though classes started in little more than an hour, but Maurae and Carrie had always been among the first ones down in the mess in the mornings. Adam scanned the room for Carrie; maybe she could tell him where Maurae was. He finally spotted her in a corner, with her usual crowd of theater geeks and...Ro! He got up and trotted over immediately, heedless of the eyes of his teammates following him.

"Morning," he said cautiously, not sure if she was over her outburst from Saturday. To his shock, not only did Maurae not answer, she turned and started talking cheerfully to the boy sitting next to her, one of Carrie's friends...Derek something. His face fell and he turned to Carrie for help.

The girl's usual smile had never been anything but sunny and bright for him, but now she was glowering at him angrily. "Maurae doesn't want to talk to you, Adam. I suggest you leave." His stomach dropped. "She would like me to remind you that she is not speaking to you until you and Charlie get over yourselves and realize you aren't enemies."

"Fat chance that'll ever happen," murmured one of the girls sitting to Carrie's right. Catching his sudden frosty expression, she shrugged, unconcerned. "What? It's true. Everyone knows you two are the most egomaniacal hockey players Eden has ever seen. An elephant will jump over the Empire State Building before either of you admits to the other you were wrong." Her bold proclamation actually earned a snort of laughter from Maurae, who tried to hide it in a drink of juice. But her eyes sparkled with amusement nonetheless.

Adam continued to stand there dumbly, with his hands in his pockets, as all the table continued to otherwise ignore him, something he was entirely not used to. After a few minutes, he shuffled his feet and walked away awkwardly, half-expecting her to call him back and say it was a joke. He'd gotten all the way across the hall before he dared to even glance back. His blue eyes widened when he saw Derek slip his arm around her shoulders and whisper something to her. He didn't see her response because he'd turned away too fast, but if he'd kept watching, he'd have been happier; she shrugged his arm off and shook her head, looking at Carrie and then getting up to leave.

Maurae moped through her classes, showing off a sunny smile that only she couldn't tell was entirely fake. She seriously considered ditching practice that afternoon, but decided against it, considering how pissed off Orion would have to be after what had happened on Saturday.

Sure enough, they were on the receiving end of first a brutal lecture and then a grueling three-hour practice session designed to teach them the discipline that they were "apparently sorely lacking." As a result, Maurae stumbled into her room in a fog of weariness, falling facedown on her bed without bothering to remove either her backpack or her shoes. Carrie prodded her foot, caught between being amused and being sympathetic.

"You still alive?" she asked.

"Uhh..." came the muffled answer.

"You want to talk about it?"

"Uhh..."

"Well, I'm here when you're ready."

"Uhh..."

"Is this a demonstration of the distinct lack of vocabulary I usually get from normal teenage girls?"

"Uhh uh..."

"Well, that was two syllables this time. An improvement." Maurae raised her head far enough to glare balefully at her far-too-cheerful roommate.

"Shut up, Carrie," she said, before letting her head fall again. Carrie moved up to sit next to her shoulder.

"You know you'll feel better when you tell me," the redhead pointed out reasonably. Maurae shook her head vigorously. "Come on. I can't keep telling Adam to go away if you won't tell me why! Sooner or later, he's going to ask as well."

"He knows why I don't want to talk to him."

"What have he and Charlie done that's more horrible than what they usually do?" Carrie asked curiously.

"Charlie quit the team," Maurae said softly, rolling onto her side so she wasn't muffling herself. "I suppose you already knew that, though." Carrie nodded confirmation but motioned for her to continue. "What I don't suppose you know is why." Here Carrie shook her head. "Part of it is his complete pig-headedness, but the larger part is that he's heartbroken over the things that have happened so far this year. Our old coach being replaced by the new, one of his best friends, and mine too, deciding to quit the team so he could attend public school instead of the "Preppiest of Preppie Schools." And then Adam making Varsity insetad of- and without- him. The worst part of it for him, though, I think, is the serious blow to his pride when Orion took away his C. Charlie's been captain since they were ten, and it's something everyone was used to. Now he doesn't know what to do with himself, and he's taking his injured pride out on everyone. Having Adam 'turn against him' was simply the last straw."

"So, this is all about Charlie and Adam?"

"At the heart of it, yes. Those two have been best friends since the State Peewee Championships four years ago. They just let me in. I know those two love each other like brothers, but they're too manly to show it now, and that's caused a lot of trouble between them recently." Maurae's eyes started to tear. "I feel like I'm losing everything that I love, and I can't do anything to stop it."

"Aren't you being a bit melodramatic?" Carrie asked tactlessly, almost immediately regretting her words.

To her surprise, Maurae smiled and giggled. "I am. I know I am. But these teenage girl hormones are hard to fight sometimes." Carrie grinned too and slid an arm around her roommate's shoulder. Maurae hugged her back. "Thanks for listening."

"Thanks for choosing to talk to me."

"I just don't know what the team is going to do, what with us being down five players."

"Five?"

"Yeah. Jesse and Portman were gone from the beginning, so we were already down two. But then Adam's quality made it three. I just can't believe that Charlie's stubbornness would jeopardize the team like this. I know he loves hockey, and he loves this team more than almost anything else. His quitting...even as angry and prideful as he is, this is something none of us expected. Him and Fulton makes it five."

"Fulton quit too?" Carrie asked, surprised. She hadn't heard that part of it. Of course, she hadn't really asked, either.

"Yeah. Skated out after Charlie without a word or even a look for anyone." Someone started banging on the door. "If it's for me, tell them I'm sleeping, okay?"

"Take your backpack off, or it won't be convincing," Carrie said with a wink as she slid off the bed and went to the door. Maurae removed her backpack and kicked off her shoes, and buried her face in her pillow once more. "Hey. Um...Maurae's not awake right now. I'll-"

"I don't give a damn if she's awake or not," interrupted a familiar voice. "This is important." The voice's owner apparently pushed past Carrie's guard stance, because a second later, someone started kicking the end of her bed relentlessly. "I know you're awake. I have some questions!"

"Go bother someone else, then!" Maurae groused, rolling over. She blinked up at her cousin's glowering face and sighed. "I don't want to talk to anyone right now. Go ask Julie or Connie."

"I did. They sent me here. I went to Fulton's room. Why isn't he answering his door? Why wasn't he in classes today?" Maurae sighed again and sat up, knowing that Shayne's impatient streak was the same as hers, inherited through their mothers.

"Fulton and Charlie quit the team. Walked out. And if they're not on the team, they can't afford to go here. They've left school. Can I go to bed now?"

"Hell no! Why would they quit? Both of them love hockey like you love hockey: a lot! Why would they quit it, especially in the middle of the season? What happened? What did you do to them?"

"What did _I_ do to them?" Maurae spluttered, suddenly furious. "Why is it _my_ fault?"

"I didn't mean you specifically, though your vehement defense of yourself is almost guilty. I meant what did the rest of the team do? It had to be you; no one else is friends with you guys."

"Thanks so much for that," Maurae said bitterly. "It wasn't us. It was Charlie's big mouth and his inability to control his freaking temper. He insulted our coach so badly to his face that Orion chucked him. Fulton followed of his own free will, without even saying a word. So don't lay blame where it isn't deserved."

Shayne's eyes and mouth were round with surprise. "Fulton and Charlie are that good of friends, huh?"

"Since Portman stayed in Chicago and Adam made Varsity, yes. They have become closer."

"Will they be back?"

"I hope so. We're as good as screwed without them," Maurae said, shoulders slumping wearily.

"Oh, come on, it can't be that bad," Carrie said, sitting on the edge of Maurae's bed again. Shayne flopped over on the end of it, still looking at Maurae. "Can it?"

"Have you ever seen one of our games?" Both girls shook their heads. "Charlie is our captain in all but name; our leading scorer."

"I thought that was your job," Shayne teased, trying to lighten the mood. Maurae smiled briefly.

"Don't interrupt," she chided gently as the smile faded. "Fulton is one of our enforcers, a defenseman. He's also got one of the strongest, most brutal slapshots any of us has ever seen, in or out of the pro leagues." Shayne's jaw dropped again. "They're both important parts of the team's offense and defense. Adam's already left one gaping hole we've been unable to fill. These two leaving...it creates more than a gaping hole. It creates a sucking void. We're down five players, and our confidence is wavering on the event horizon."

"I'm sure your coach knows how to compensate for their loss," Carrie said soothingly, Shayne nodding her support.

"Adam's been gone for a week, one game and numerous practices, and we still haven't been able to pick up his slack," Maurae replied frankly.

"Give it time," Shayne said with a careless shrug, wanting to talk about why Fulton had left, not the team and their problems.

"Time we don't have, Shay. Your parents might be able to afford to send you here, but my parents can't. Without this scholarship, I'm screwed at Eden."

"You won't lose your scholarship, will you?" both girls asked simultaneously.

"It's a hockey scholarship," Maurae explained quietly. "Not a sports _and_ academic scholarship. Without hockey, I have no scholarship, no matter how high my grades are. And if we don't start winning games, they'll take the scholarships away from us. I read the fine print, though I don't think anyone else actually did." She paused to let it sink in. "So, I know what's at stake here."

"You'll all just have to work harder at it," Carrie said finally, indicating that the topic was closed.

Even Shayne could tell that Maurae didn't want to talk anymore. She nodded and left in a hurry. Carrie touched her roommate's shoulder sympathetically and returned to her own side of the room as Maurae gathered the stuff for a shower. It had been a long day and tomorrow couldn't get any better.


	30. Shipped Direct from Hell

**springchick5759**: Okay, wow. Wow, you know what, you're getting ahead of me. Who says Maurae's gonna choose Adam, anyway? But keep your fingers crossed for me. This story's already evolved beyond my original vision.

**punkteacher:** Yes, I liked that little quotation too. And it fit, don't you think?

**AN:** Not my best work, but I had to shove this one through my nose to get the creativity flowing again. My muse wasn't cooperating, so I had to go hire three more. They're crazy. Here it is, for your reading enjoyment.

**AN:** CHAPTER DEDICATION TIME! This one goes to my "Cookie monster" reviewer named **ChocolateCoveredJockey**. You still want to give me that cookie? I like chocolate chip best! -wink- I'm so glad you like my story. This one is becoming a favorite, a pride of mine...aw, let's face it...this thing's my baby! I'm glad you like it. So, so glad. :)

* * *

"Shipped Direct from Hell"

"I should have known," Maurae growled as she tripped down the last few stairs, falling headfirst into the wall.

"Should have known what?" Julie asked sleepily, offering a hand to help her up. Maurae took it and was soon upright again, pulling her backpack higher on her shoulders.

"Should have known not to say anything last night. I said it would probably not get much worse, and guess what? It has. And not just a little! I almost electrocuted myself this morning when I turned on the light in the bathroom. Carrie's filled those stupid outlets with so much...crap! Then I couldn't find my toothbrush, and when I did, it had fallen behind the sink and was covered in dust bunnies. Okay, so I'm not about to brush my teeth with dust bunnies. So I grab some gum. Well, the damn gum has turned my tongue blue. I have fallen down the stairs, and now I have a headache. And the day hasn't even really started yet!"

Julie raised her eyebrows, as if to tell her friend she was being paranoid, but Maurae blinked and looked away. She knew she was being psychotic, but she didn't care. It was all she could do to keep from screaming at the others that their lives were over.

Drama, drama, drama.

Maurae and Julie walked across the manicured lawns to the general mess and got in line for their breakfasts. As usual, they got cold cereal, the one thing the cafeteria staff couldn't mess up.

It was the same, always the same. Though only two days into what they all considered living hell, they felt pretty well used to it by now. It was a blur of misery from the moment they woke up to the moment they fell, exhausted, into bed. Even the team chatterboxes, Averman and Goldberg, had nothing to say. On Monday morning, when Orion had scheduled an extra practice for them, he'd stuck Goldie on defense, since they were now down an enforcer. After the initial complaints, they had shut up and done their work. No one wanted to raise Orion's ire any more than they already had.

By all rights, Maurae should have been in a better mood. She'd been moved up to her old oposition of center forward, first line. However, the default status ruined any celebratory impulses she might have had. And she hated Charlie for it. She was furious with him. After what she'd said, after what he'd done! But she missed him fiercely, the same way she missed her brothers when she was in Minnesota.

The same way she missed Adam now that she wasn't talking to him.

_'I have to stop thinking about it or I'll end up forgiving him and..._' And what? She'd look weak? Or lovesick? She was neither. She just hated being mad at people she loved. And she wasn't even really mad at them. She was disappointed, and frustrated by both of their unwillingness to reconcile...she hated their stubbornness. And she hated it because she knew she had it too. She was too stubborn to forgive them when they asked.

Blearily, she dragged herself back to reality and looked around. Only a few of the others were present, but when she looked, she saw the rest of the Varsity team eating and chatting gaily. _'God, what do I do?'_ It was a desperate prayer, and she didn't feel better, nor did she feel guided. She slumped miserably onto the table and sighed. Maybe if she forgave him and got it over with, she'd feel better.

"I'm gonna go talk to Scooter," Julie said next to her. "He said something on Saturday that made me think..." Maurae felt a rush of something and she stared at her friend. Maybe God was listening after all.

"I'll come too," she said, standing up. The goalie sent her a peevish look, so Maurae felt the need to explain herself. "I think I need to talk to Adam." Blue eyes softened and Julie nodded.

"All right, then, let's go." Maurae sighed, determined, and picked up her backpack, following Julie across the room. "Hey, Scott. Can I have a word?" Maurae thought it might have been the surprise of Julie's sudden request that made the other goalie nod, but he did, and got up.

"Um...Ads, could I-"

"Aw, how sweet," Riley interrupted in a lazy drawl. She bristled, knowing he was making a crack at her more-southern-than-Minnesota accent. "The girlies have come to say hi to their boyfriends!"

"He is _not_ my boyfriend!" both girls exclaimed in unison. Maurae elaborated. "Adam is my best friend. Ads, could I talk to you?"

"I don't think he wants to talk to you right now," Riley said, narrowing his eyes at her. "You see, he knows who his real friends are."

"Adam, if you think I am going to let this infantile specimen of the male species intimidate me when I don't let Gunnar Stahl intimidate me, then you don't know me half as well as I thought you did." She was using the big words to make him smile, like it always did. He was still determined to stare a hole in the table before him. She sighed. "Ads, please. I need to talk to you!"

"So talk." Riley was obviously enjoying this, completely unfazed by her exemplary vocabulary.

"I would like to tell _Adam_ something."

"Anything you can say to him, you can say to us."

She glared at him, hands on her hips, but swallowed hard. She knew God wouldn't make it that easy for her to swallow her pride. "Ads, you're my best friend. I love you like you're my brother. I...I wanted to say I'm sorry. For the way I've been acting, the way I've been avoiding you. It was stupid and stubborn and prideful, and I...I was wrong to do it." He finally looked up, his eyes unreadable. She never not been able to not read her friend.

"No," he said softly. "You were right to do it. You were only following your coach's orders. Besides, you helped remind me that I _am_ on Varsity now. These are my teammates." She took a step back. Of all the results she could have gotten from him, this was the worst. Cold indifference.

Oh yes, this day was straight from hell, courtesy of special messenger, custom made with her name on it.

It took all she had to keep from bursting into tears right there. She didn't have anything left to keep him from seeing her hurt too. Julie was the only good thing right then. The blonde slipped an arm around her shoulders, glaring red fury at Adam.

"I think you just kissed her friendship goodbye, Banks," she growled. "And mine too." She pulled Maurae to her and scowled. "Come on, hon. Let's go find Connie." Maurae nodded and turned her back on the one person she'd thought would forgive her readily. Julie continued murmuring comforting things to her as they crossed the mess again, this time in reverse.

"I can't believe what I was thinking," she finally managed to control herself enough to mutter. "God, how stupid was that!"

"Ro, it wasn't stupid. It was brave. Bad enough to have to tell Adam you were wrong. But to go ahead and do it in front of Varsity...? I dunno if I'd have been able to stand the humiliation...oops. Sorry, I didn't mean that the way it came out."

"I know, Jules. Thanks, though. For what you meant, not what you said." It was the first smile, however faint, that Julie had seen that morning. "Come on, we've got class. And I only managed to finish half of what Madigan assigned us." She sighed. "At least we don't have any form of quiz or test today. I love Tuesdays."

"For that reason only," Julie said with a grin. Maurae was loosening up again, and it was good to see.

"Whatever. Come on. I want to see if Ken'll let me copy the rest of it."

"What about me?"

"Jules, no offense, but if I copy yours, I'm sure she'll know. Your answers are always so...perfect. Like you wrote them out of the textbook. Ken's...Ken's are a little more contemporary high school student."

"No offense taken...I think." The two girls left the mess and hurried to their biology class.

"Ken!" Maurae exclaimed joyfully when they walked in. The Asian boy blinked and shrank back a little.

"What do you want?"

"Can't I say hi to my friend without an ulterior motive?"

"No!" chorused three voices.

"Averman has it anyway. So you'll have to copy over his shoulder," Ken said in reply to the unasked question. When she raised an eyebrow, he shrugged. "No, I can't read your mind. I just knew you hadn't finished it. You never came into the common room last night."

"Thanks," she said, dropping her bag onto her desk and pulling out her homework binder, ripping a pencil from the front pocket and glancing over Averman's shoulder at the neatly completed biology assignment. She jotted down the salient points of the answers she was missing and then returned to her seat, only a moment before Adam walked in. The Ducks ignored him completely, though Maurae bit her lip before focusing on the corner of her desk. The tension in the room had just multiplied...exponentially.

Maurae pulled her drawing pad out of her bag and flipped it open, both to distract her from Adam's presence and to work on her mid-term for 2D Art. "Hey, that's pretty good," commented Ken, on his way to his seat from retrieving his commandeered homework. She looked up, flushed, and looked down.

"You think so?"

"You've got skills."

"I like writing better, but this is fun," she said with a shrug.

"Well, it's cool. I like that symbol. What does it mean?"

"Oh, this is the symbolic representation for Pluto. I was doodling with the planetary symbols and decided to work one into my design." She shrugged with one shoulder. "It's weird, I know, but I have obscure references stored in my brain. My older brother took astronomy last year." Madigan swept in then, cutting off further conversation, and Ken practically ran back to his assigned seat, setting his homework on the corner of his desk for collection. The rest of the class followed his example.

Maurae managed to pay more attention to the lecture than to Adam for once, and a good thing too, since she didn't understand half of it at first glance. She actually breathed an audible sigh of relief when the bell rang. Three periods without Adam, and then lunch. She caught Julie's eye and smiled slightly.

The blonde grinned. They joined Ken and Russ, waiting for them in the hall, and the quartet made its way to geometry.

* * *

Julie laughed when she got to the mess and found Maurae seated as usual, but with her head on her arms on the table. "Tired?"

"Uh...no, sorry. Thinking." From her solemn tone, Julie could guess what she was thinking about.

"Come on, girl. Cheer up. We've got a game this afternoon. No detention. It's always good to get onto the ice."

"Yeah," Maurae replied noncommitally. She shrugged and leaned back in her chair. Suddenly, she brightened. "Sum 41!" she exclaimed. Ken, Averman, Julie, and Guy all raised their eyebrows at her and she grinned sheepishly. "I was trying to remember something. I've had the words to a song stuck in my head all day, and I couldn't remember what it was. It was "Still Waiting," Sum 41. _This can't last forever. Time won't make things better. I fell so alone, can't help myself, but no one knows._" They blinked at her. "Yeah, sounds depressing, I know. But it's an awesome song." They continued to stare at her, so she flushed and crossed her arms. Then she proceeded to defiantly hum the chorus, making them laugh.

"Well, at least somebody's in a better mood," Averman said. Her face fell, suddenly reminded that this day was from hell. Russ slapped the redhead over the back of his head as he sat down, but Maurae immediately smiled again, though everyone present knew it was more forced. "So, do you think he's starting Goldie tonight?" asked Averman to cover the sudden uncomfortable silence. Luis glared at him as he sat down, but other than that, people muttered the affirmative.

"We know Ro's starting," Ken said. "And Jules. Obviously. Maybe Orion wants to distract the other team with the girls' pretty faces while they pound them into the ice. Course, the rest of us can just stand back and watch, right, ladies?" Maurae, Connie, and Julie beamed at him.

"Okay, I'm Kenny's biggest fan!" Connie exclaimed. "That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me all day!"

"Hey!" Guy exclaimed, affronted. "I told you you looked nice this morning! Doesn't that count?"

"Oh, right. Sorry." They all shared a laugh.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't _all_ shipped direct from hell.

"So, Goldie, do you think you can handle Fulton's job?" Luis asked conversationally, his eyes straying across the caf and zeroing in on Riley's girlfriend. Maurae shook her head.

"Man, you're asking for it with her."

"I know," he said, grinning. She only rolled her eyes, glancing over by the doors to see if Shayne was hanging out with her friends.

She spotted her cousin laughing and chatting happily with..."Oh My God!" she shouted, shooting to her feet and causing strange looks to home in on her from nearby tables. Her friends all looked up at her, but she was shaking herself free of the chair and her bag, with a smile on her face, a genuine smile. "Fulton's back!" she cried over her shoulder as she ran through the aisles. The burly enforcer saw her coming and stood up with a good-natured smile, to catch her as she threw herself on him. "Fult, Fult, you're back!"

"It would seem that way, yes," he said with a small smile. He greeted everybody else who'd come, and then they all left the caf to talk.

Yeah, hell had officially left the building.

* * *

**flyinghawk:** Kenny for you, just for you. He is a sweetheart, isn't he...um, he's still single. You want?

**CandieBabie30:** Soon enough?

**springchic5759:** OMG, I'm so sorry! I meant to have this all up and posted, and then I kind of got writer's block. I am so, so, soooooo sorry!

**TamPhuoc: **Interesting name. Hope you like the latest installment.

**antiIRONY:** Girl, why do you put up with me? Anyway, here she is. Surprise twist, I think, that no one was expecting. Not even me. Um, another thing. Now that you're a staff member of the C2, you can add stories, you know. It would be nice if they came from other fandoms than just MD, HP, and LotR.

**AN:** I know that the game comes next, but little was known about it, save that they lost and that Goldie was on defense for the first time. Next chapter contains the mention of character death.


	31. The Meaning of Flight

**AN:** Warning, character death. You who have seen the movies know what I'm talking about. You who haven't...well, there's something wrong with you!

Next person to offer me a cookie shall die. I ate the whole box from Jockey, and now I have a tummy ache...I love jelly beans, though... Anyway, I hope you like this chapter.It was hard to writeto write. I hate character death.

**Chapter Dedication:** This one's for **punkteacher**, who gives me such good reviews. I want to write as well as you can, hon! Though...I dunno if I can sit through 66 chapters of this...

* * *

"The Meaning of Flight"

**Third Person POV- Charlie**

It was sometime between the hot dogs and the ice cream that it hit him: 'playing hooky' was no fun without the others. Sure, Fulton was awesome, but without Ro and Banksie and the others, it was...well, dull. Team escapades were always more exciting, like the prank wars.

But he would rather die than admit it, admit he was wrong. Especially to Orion. He shuddered at the thought of apologizing to the new coach. Totally not happening. But what about apologizing to the team? He knew Ro had swore she wouldn't talk to him until he and Adam got along again, but...she didn't really mean that, did she?

After getting kiccked out of the Mall, and breaking off with Fulton, he was leaning more towards angry with his teammates and their 'weakness' than he was sorry for his behavior. His temper was getting in the way of his rational mind again...not that Charlie was ever rational when it came to hockey or his friends...

He stormed into Hans and Jan's shop and plopped onto the armchair next to Hans. Only then did he realize that his friend was listening to the game. Debating with himself, he decided to sit and listen for a while, see how they were doing without him.

He winced as he listened to the commentary. "...the one bright spot is Greg Goldberg, who skates up on defense for the first time tonight. He's a one-man wrecking crew!" He frowned. Goldie couldn't skate all that well...maybe Orion wasn't sucha bad taskmaster, once you got down to it. He shook his head. No. Orion was a washed up old man who coached kids so he could feel important.

He blinked out of his musings as Hans switched off the radio. "Sounds like the Ducks need you, Charlie," he said gently.

"Hn. What they need is a new coach!"

"Orion, he..." He trailed off in discomfort for a moment. Then he took a deep breath and continued. "They need you to lead, Charlie. Orion wants it. He won't let you just skate by. He demands more because he knows that it is there inside of you!" (**AN:** Sorry about the exact dialogue here!)

"How can he expect me to lead when he takes away my C? I was the captain, Hans."

Amusement made the older man's eyes sparkle mischievously. He reached to the side and pulled out a handful of multicolored cloth C's. "It's only a letter, Charlie. Here, I have hundereds!" He tossed them on the table in front of the brunet.

"These are not the same," he replied mulishly. "Don't make fun of me, Hans."

"You're not a little boy anymore, Charlie. Please stop acting this way. You have a good thing with the Ducks. Don't let it slip away."

"They're the ones who are slipping away from me!" he cried as he jumped up. Frustrated, he fisted his hands. "I've got to walk." Shooting pain shot up Hans' arm and he gasped. "Hans?"

Making light of it, the Norwegian lifted a finger and smiled his old smile. Charlie shook his head; to think he'd fallen for it again! "I'll see you." The door opened and slammed and Hans tried to relax; but the pain was relentless. He felt the tears building in his eyes.

"Good-bye, Charlie," he whispered, though the boy was far out of earshot by now. He reached over and turned the radio back on. He wanted to know how they would manage without him.

The sound of labored breathing eventually faded and the radio blasted on. Someone scored a goal and a smile curled over Hans' lips as his eyes slid closed. _'They'll be all right,'_ was the last thought of the dying man.

* * *

**Third Person POV- Eden Hall**

Groaning, Maurae dragged herself out of bed. She was aching and sore head to foot from all the checks she'd endured the night before, only half of which had been legal. Carrie ignored her and continued to go about her morning routine. Maurae stuck her tongue out at the back of her roommate's head and eyed her nightime attire. If she pulled on a shirt over her cami, she would pass for normally dressed. That's one thing she loved about track pants. Reached over, she grabbed the denim overshirt she normally used as lounge-wear and draped it over her shoulders, buttoning three of the six buttons. Loathe to do any more than necessary, she grabbed a pony holder and pulled her hair into a messy tail high on her head. Getting out of bed, she slipped on her loafers, without socks, and went into the bathroom to brush her teeth for breakfast.

When she came out, Carrie handed her her bag and they left the room together. Maurae wasn't really in a mood, nor awake enough to talk, so the walk to the mess was rather silent. Once inside, Carrie gave her arm a squeeze and went off in one direction to join her friends, while Maurae continued into the center of the room to the Ducks' table.

"M-m-moring, guys," she managed through a yawn. Half-hearted waves and grunts were her only answer, so she dropped bonelessly into a chair and rested her chin on her hands, elbows on the table. She yawned again and rubbed her eyes with one hand. Glancing over at the Varsity table had become a habit by now, and when she saw Adam laughing and joking with his teammates, she suddenly couldn't look away.

An odd feeling fluttered against her diaphragm, and she choked on a deep breath. Coughing, she buried her head in her arms until she got it under control. She missed seeing him laugh. She missed _making _him laugh. She heaved a sigh and stood up to get breakfast. Surprisingly, she was the only one of her friends that seemed to have enough energy. That made her feel slightly better.

Returning from the line with a tray holding sliced fruit and a bowl of cereal, she had to walk past the table Varsity had claimed. Squaring her shoulders, she lifted her chin and walked.

Not surprisingly, Riley and Cole stood up to blck her way. She stopped dead and rolled her eyes, but remained focused on the two instead of looking for help. "Going somewhere?"

"Always," she retorted. "So if you don't mind...?"

"I do, actually. Quite a loss last night," Riley sneered. Her eyes flashed, so he knew he'd touched a nerve, but she refused to say anything and give him the satisfaction. They waited, but she could out-wait them any day. "Tell your Captain I said we'll be seeing him...oh, wait. You don't have a captain anymore."

Again, the flare of anger, which she held down. She did _not_ want to have to explain attacking two boys twice her size. Bad enough she'd provoked a fight with her cousin. "Excuse me, Riley. My cereal's getting soggy." She shoved past him, grinding her teeth. She _wanted_ to shove her tray into his face, mess up his perfect hair and his perfect clothes. She _wanted_ to throw a punch. She stalked to the Ducks' table and slammed the tray down, causing Julie, Ken, and Fulton, the three nearest her, to jump and blink sleepily at her.

She smiled blandly and sat, picking at the food with her spoon. She took maybe three whole bites before the bell rang. With a universal groan, the team stood and started trundling off to biology. "I am going to be so glad when this week is over," Maurae sighed, pulling her bag high onto her shoulder. Julie and Connie nodded. "That game last night was brutal. I swear, half the people in the stands were booing us by the end of the second period, and the other half were laughing at our lack of coordination."

"Trust you to use big words when the rest of us are half asleep," Kenny muttered with a small grin as he ducked past the girls into the classroom. She took a fake swing at him. He laughed and strolled to his seat.

Madigan walked in and started to pick up the homework assignments. She paused in front of Fulton and flashed a smile that looked more like a grimace. "Ah, Mr Reed. Good of you to return." Then she swept forward. "Take out your pencils only and put your books and notes away. Time for the quiz." By then, they had all learned not to groan aloud at this announcement.

The quiz was relatively easy, and twenty minutes later, they had finished and handed it in. Good thing Madigan liked to go over the quiz during the class, otherwise the Ducks would have been in trouble. It was almost like the Captain Blood days of the Junior Goodwill Games, only nobody had fallen asleep yet. Luis looked close, though...

The bell rang, and was followed by a deafening rush of movement towards the door. Again, Julie, Ken, Russ, and Maurae joined up and headed off to geometry, where they had another quiz scheduled. Fortunately, it was a homework quiz, to make sure they were actually doing the assignments. She could do this easily too.

After geometry, she headed off down the hall to debate, greeting Shayne with a lopsided smile, before dropping into a seat next to her dark cousin. "Well, someone's in a good mood today," she suggested. Shayne grinned.

"Well, who wouldn't be glad to see their--I mean...aw, shit."

"So, you're official now?" Maurae asked archly. Shayne flushed light pink and nodded. "That's what you were talking about yesterday when I interrupted you, huh? Well, isn't he the romantic?"

"He is, actually."

"That was rhetorical, hon."

"Whatever, _hon_," Shayne mocked her teasingly. She sobered slightly. "So, how are you and Adam doing? I notice Charlie didn't come back with Fult."

"Naw. Adam and I are still not speaking," she said, biting her bottom lip. Shayne saw the danger signs and hurried to steer the conversation away from Adam. Maurae actually did it for her. "That game last night...I saw you. You actually came to one of my games...geez, Shay, you haven't done that for years."

"Well..."

"I think our Fulton's gone and rubbed off on you," she teased.

"Rae!"

"I'm glad you like him." That stopped Shayne cold.

"What?"

"I'm glad you like him. You'll be good for each other." Now she was staring at her cousin. "Oh, please. Don't look at me like that." Then she turned to face the front of the room, where the teacher was writing up the topic for preparation for the debate the following week.

"You will divide into two halves, and I will assign each half a topic. You will choose one spokesperson, and you will research the point from now ntil next week." The door opened and all eyes turned to look at it. "Yes, what can I do for you?"

"Dean Buckley would like to see Maurae Grabeklis in his office please," replied the student, who was obviously a senior. She glanced at the teacher, who nodded once to her and went back to writing. She got up, slung her bag over her shoulder, shrugged once at Shayne, who was looking as confused as she was, and followed the girl out of the room. It was a silent walk to the dean's office.

"Ah, Maurae. Come in, please. And have a seat. We're just waiting for the others." Maurae blinked and tried to shy away from the seat he'd offered her, next to Adam, but there was no way to decline without looking childish, so she sat gingerly, perched on the very edge. One by one, the rest of her teammates trickled in and took the offered seats.

"At the risk of sounding completely rude, what the hell is going on here?" demanded Connie. "And just _what_ is _he_ doing here?" This last was said with an obscure wave in Adam's direction.

"He is here, Miss Moreau, because I have just been contacted by Gordon Bombay with some rather distressing news. News that affects you all, even Mr Banks here."

"Suddenly, I have a really bad feeling. Is it Charlie?" Maurae blurted. "Oh, God, has something happened to Charlie!" She couldn't help the distinct note of hysteria in her voice, making it higher than normal, but she wasn't worried about it. That was the only thing she could think of that would affect everyone including Adam.

"No, no, calm down! Please calm down!" So, she'd made Dean Buckley nervous. "As far as anyone knows, Mr Conway is fine. No, Gordon called me to tell me that a man named Hans passed away last night. He said he was a mentor of you all." Thirteen pairs of eyes blinked blankly at him for a long moment, and then Connie stifled a sob. Guy pulled her head to his shoulder and they cried together. One by one, it was like a floodgate was released. Everyone was crying or sobbing dryly, or trying not to cry.

Adam's hand instinctively found hers, and she grabbed him around the neck, sobbing into his shoulder as he gently held her. She could feel his own shuddering breaths. This was, in a way, worse than news that something had happened to Charlie. Hans was important to them, like a grandparent.

She looked up, eyes streaming, and saw, with a flash of gratitude, that the dean had left his office to the distraught teenagers. Her eyes met Adam's, and she suddenly remembered that he wasn't speaking to her. She started to pull back.

As if reading her mind, he hugged her close again. "If you have the courage to admit you were wrong in front of my teammates, I have the courage to do the same in front of yours. I'm sorry," he whispered into her hair. She slipped her arms around him and hugged him back, crying harder, and not just in anguish over Hans' death, but also in happiness, to have her best friend back.

"I'm sorry too, Ads," she whispered. "But you're back. That's all that matters."

_'I swear I'll never leave you again, Ro_,' he whispered to himself, hugging her tightly.

* * *

**AN: **I like this chapter better. Much better. To my reviewers:

**ChocolateCoveredJockey:** Dahling, those cookies were nummy. Thank you! And yes, I know Adam was quite...hateful in the last chapter. I'm sorry about that, but it worked, didn't it? Anyway, they're reconciled, so, there you go.

**CandieBabie30:** Well, you asked, and here's what happens next.


	32. The Beginning of Every End

"The Beginning of Every End"

Maurae felt terrible. She knew she should be more upset about Hans' death. She _was_ very upset. But it was hard to be so sad when your best friend is speaking to you again, and holding you, and...She let her thoughts trail off, still unwilling to follow them through to conclusion. She went back to feeling bad because she didn't feel that bad about Hans.

Someone knocked on the door and she heard Carrie open it. But she was face-down on her bed, buried to her ears in her pillow, wallowing in misery, guilt, and even a little euphoria. "Hey, Carrie. Is she ready?" Maurae sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, slipping on the comfortable black shoes she'd gotten for the funeral.

"I'm ready," she said softly, unable to look at him without having her ears turn red. He offered her a hand, and she took it reflexively, allowing him to pull her out of the room. "See you on Monday, Carrie," she said, picking up her overnight as she left. The redhead nodded and closed the door behind the pair. Leaning against it, she grinned.

"Derek owes me money," she said with a wicked glint in her eyes.

It had been a long three days since Dean Buckley had told them the news. Adam hadn't gone back to the Varsity table since Wednesday morning, and his teammates were constantly hounding him about it. They would saunter over during meals to shoot snide comments at him, most of which Maurae would have jumped at them for if he hadn't calmed her down. _'What's going on?'_ she wondered, hand still clasped securely in her best friend's._ 'I've never gotten all defensive or protective of him...he's got entirely too sweet a manner to let them insult him like that!'_ She hurriedly backed off from those thoughts as well. She knew how Adam felt about her; she'd somehow always known. But she didn't...she _couldn't_ return those feelings...he was her best friend. That's all.

Hearing the disquieting echoes of those same words, spoken aloud to Carrie and Derek, didn't make her feel better. In fact, her conscience was screaming _/Denial! Denial/_ at her repeatedly. She chose to ignore it.

Adam's brother Daniel was waiting for them, and they both slid silently into the backseat. He eyed their clasped hands with a small, smug smile, but said nothing. Neither one seemed to realize that they were still holding hands at all. The drive to the cemetary was quiet. When they arrived, it took Daniel a few minutes to find a place to park. Finally, he pulled over a little. "You guys go ahead. I'll park and then I'll join you." Maurae opened her door without comment and climbed out. Adam followed. Not once did they let go of each other.

At the sight of the casket, Maurae nearly burst into tears. She bit her lip, eyes swimming, and pressed her face to Adam's shoulder. He let go of her hand and put his arms around her, smoothing back her hair and letting her cry. A splash of warm wetness landed on her ear and she froze. Was Adam _crying_? She looked up, and found, much to her surprise, tears blurring the blue of his eyes. He blinked and another one hit her face. Surprised, she lifted her arm and used her sleeve to wipe his face, making him smile, watery and weak though it was. He had known Hans better than she had, she remembered.

Neither one of them noticed the incredulous, pained glare coming towards them from across the casket. Charlie and his mother had arrived and were standing together. The entire team was now gathered, as well as some of Hans' friends and family. A trio of women in native costume stood to one side. Heads turned as the priest arrived, standing at the head of the casket that held their beloved friend.

He began the service in a soft voice, with the Lord's Prayer. Those gathered repeated it gently.

_Our Father, who Art in Heaven,_

Hans, why didn't you tell us?

_Hallowed be Thy name._

Why does this have to happen now?

_Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done,_

Why is everything terrible always happening to us?

_On earth as it is in Heaven._

God, why did you let this happen?

_Give us this day our daily bread,_

Why?

_And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us._

Forgiveness...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to question You.

_And lead us not into temptation,_

No, please don't. I don't think I can handle it anymore.

_But deliver us from evil._

And pain...and sadness...take it all away, please!

_For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory._

And You have to do something! You can't keep punishing us or we'll snap!

_Forever and ever. Amen_.

It was then that Maurae felt a lightening of her burdens. Logic, or what she assumed was logic, broke through her grief. Hans wouldn't have wanted them to mourn. There was nothing the man had liked better than watching them play, than listening to them play. They had been letting him down recently. All of them. She glanced at Charlie, whose valiant effort to conceal his tears only made him look pissed.

The priest started to open his Bible, but a new face appeared, and interrupted him. "May I?" whispered Bombay. The man nodded once and stepped back. As they watched, he unfolded the jersey he'd brought, the one with Hans' name on it, and laid it on the casket. "Every time you touch the ice," he said, looking up at them, looking about to cry, "remember it was Hans that taught us to fly."

With those words, the dam broke. Charlie threw Bombay a glare and stormed off towards the lake. No one followed. They knew he needed to be alone. Instead, his friends hugged their former coach and started to trickle off, knowing that nothing more needed to be said about their friend, their mentor. And apparently, his other friends, and his family, agreed. The priest sighed, put up his hands, and walked away from them. Soon, the gravesite was deserted.

Connie and Julie joined Maurae in a long hug, all three girls crying on each other, smearing their solemn makeup. None of them cared. "We'll win one for him," Connie whispered. "We'll make him proud." The other two agreed. They pulled themselves together and started fixing each other's makeup. Well, Maurae helped them both; she didn't wear makeup to a place she knew it would get messed up. She was just smart like that.

* * *

"Uuhhnn..." she moaned as an incessant pounding brought her to wakefulness sharply. _'What time is it?'_ she wondered, glaring blearily at the glowing numbers of her alram clock. It was a little past nine in the morning.

"Are you decent in there?" demanded a familiar voice. She sat up, the blanket slipping off her legs as she stretched. She opened her mouth to reply when the familiar-but-unplaced voice added something. "Only, I think my brother might like it if you aren't." The unmistakable sound of flesh hitting flesh made her grin. She'd forgotten how much Daniel loved to tease his little brother. She went to the door and opened it, smirking, to find Adam beating his older brother round the head while the other laughed and fended him off.

"I am decent, actually," she drawled. "Why are you pounding on my door at this time of the morning? It had better be an emergency."

"Of course it is," Daniel replied loftily. "I'm your ride to the rink in the city. However, I have someplace to be in an hour. Unless you want to skate there, you need to get dressed and ready to go." Daniel nodded at her attire. "Nice pj's." Then he sauntered down the hall to his own room and shut the door behind him. Maurae grinned at Adam, who grinned back, flushing slightly. They continued to stare at each other until Daniel opened his door and emerged. He stopped dead and started to grin. "You know," he began loudly, making them both jump. "As entertaining as it is to watch you two strip each other with your eyes--" here both teens turned tomato red and looked anywhere but at each other, "--I really am going to be leaving soon." Maurae stuck her tongue out at him, immaturity catching up to her blush. "Is that an invitation, princess?" he teased. She blinked.

"Only in your dreams, Danny-boy," she retorted. Then she spun back into her room and slammed the door.

Daniel tapped his brother on the shoulder and bent over to whisper, "You sure can pick em, little bro." Instead of the indignant response he'd expected, Adam grinned foolishly.

"Yeah, I know," he replied. Then he walked off to his own room to change, leaving Daniel in possession of a valuable piece of gossip and numerous 'ideas.' After all, what was a big brother for, if not for 'helping' his little brother?

"Okay, I'm ready, let's go!" chirped Maurae, swinging open the door. She had pulled on a pair of capris and a t-shirt, pulled her hair up and back, and was carrying a backpack filled, no doubt, with her pads and skates. Adam appeared only a second later. The three clattered down the stairs and out the front door.

It was only about ten when they arrived, but they weren't the first there. Nor the last. After waving Daniel off, with his promise to pick them up at three unless they called him first, they sat down on a bench to pull on their skates. By the time they had finished, the last of them had arrived, and with them..."Jesse!" Maurae screeched, launching herself at her friend. He grinned and hugged her.

"Hey. What's up, cake-eater?" the black boy asked Adam, holding out his hand. The blond grinned and grabbed it, hugging his friend. "I've been getting horror stories all morning from these two," he added, indicating Averman and Luis. "I just missed Hans' funeral, but I went to the wake. Only none of you showed up. Then Averman called this morning at the butt-crack of dawn and told me you all were getting together here." He smirked. "Since then, I've been completely updated on the happenings at Eden. I knew I was the only rational one of this bunch." Maurae punched his arm lightly.

"It hasn't been that bad..." she began. Then she blinked and grinned sheepishly. "Okay, so most of it has been hell, but..."She started to smile dreamily, and Jesse grinned.

"Somebody has a secret," he stage-whispered. "Does Ro have a crush?" Her flaming scarlet face belied her stammered denial. Jesse finally let go and picked up his hockey stick. "So, we gonna do this, or what? I do have work this afternoon." He answered their surprised looks with another wicked smile. "I work at the fam's pizza place. You should come by. I'm sure I could convince Mom to let you have some for free."

The resounding agreement led to the beginning of the friendly game. There were no specific teams; it was mostly just playing around. Until Russ spotted two familiar figures. Grinning, he skated towards the fence. "Damn, Conway, what took you so long?"

"Yeah, come on, get in the game!" yelled Dwayne. The others beckoned, and their former captain smiled sheepishly and walked through the fence. He sat on the bench and someone handed him a pair of skates. He looked up at Jesse.

"Coach told me he'd be bringing you. So I went to your house and got these from your mom." Charlie's grey eyes said thanks enough, so Jesse skated away, oddly flushed. Charlie bent over to start pulling them on when another body landed next to his. Almost afraid to look, he followed the leg up to the chest, to the face, and found Maurae staring at him, quite solemn.

"I wanted to apologize," she said quietly, arms crossed. "For what I said...that morning...and for the way I've been acting." She took a deep breath. "I know that all of this has been especially hard on you, and I thought...if you could fogive my stupid pigheadedness..."

"Of course," he replied instantly. "If you forgive my smart mouth and quick temper."

Smiling brightly, she leaned over and kissed his cheek. "I'm glad you're back," she whispered, right before standing and pushing off the bench. He grinned. It was good to have his best friends back. He watched her skate over to Adam, and the two began an animated conversation.

"Fifty bucks says he's thinking about kissing her soon," commented a low voice in his ear. He turned to look at Averman. The redhead was watching the pair with sparkling eyes.

"You don't have fifty bucks, Averman," the brunet replied easily. He'd missed the back-and-forth between his teammates. He narrowed his eyes. "You think...that Ro and Banksie...?"

"All right. Twenty bucks says they kiss by the JV-Varsity game."

"You're on."

"And fifty bucks says that Adam's thoughts towards her aren't G-rated," he added slyly as he straightened and skated off. That made Charlie laugh. No, Adam's thoughts were decidedly way past G-rated. He knew that already.

But Ro...she'd said she only cared about Adam as a friend, hadn't she? What had he missed in a week?

During the game, he focused more on his two friends than he did on playing. Which is why he was quite surprised when he was lifted off his feet and set inside one of the trash barrels they were using for goals. "Haha, very funny," he said, climbing out. He spotted Bombay in the same position in the other goal. In a fit of childish amusement, he picked up his goal and shoved it down over Goldberg's head, pounding it once to make sure it stayed. Laughing, the others rescued the hapless goalie.

As the teens prepared to head over to the pizza place, Bombay left with a wave. Adam called his brother for a later pickup. Charlie tied his laces together and slung them over his shoulder. Now he could watch Ro and Banksie. Jesse saw his scrutiny and leaned over.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" the black boy asked.

"If you're thinking we'd make good machmakers, then no," Charlie teased. "But if you're thinking it would be fun to 'help' them along, then yes."

"Good. We're on the same page."

"Ads doesn't need convincing. I think we have to work on Ro. She's obviously in denial about how she feels." Jesse rubbed his hands together gleefully.

"This is going to be fun."


	33. Matchmaker, Matchmaker

**AN:** Okay, I think the last chapter gave you an appropriate idea as to where this chapter is going to go. Yes, the Ducks are an unstoppable force...even when it comes to matchmaking, badly. I will also add that part of this chapter was inspired by Counting Crows and "Accidentally In Love." Use your imaginations as to what that one means.

**Chapter dedication:** This one goes out to Woody, who never reads any of it, but knows how much I love him!

**Input request:** I dunno if I want to continue this past the end of the movie, but I have a really good idea for a school dance and for further events. Let me know what you guys want to see in further chapters, and I'll see what I can work out with my muses. Between the five of us, I'm sure we can come up with something!

* * *

"Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match...So I Can Set My Best Friend on Fire"

"Hey, Ro, scoot over so I can sit down a minute," Jesse said, setting the pizza tray down in front of his friends.

"Jess, I can't go anywhere else," she protested. This was, in fact, the truth; she was already squished against Adam's side so tightly that she might as well have been sitting in his lap. Jesse rolled his eyes.

"Fine, then I'll just sit on your lap," he said simply. Her eyes widened and she all but climbed onto her best friend's lap. She raised her eyes in a look that asked plainly, 'Do you mind?' He shook his head and moved his hands awkwardly to accomodate her. Jesse sat down, shooting Charlie a wink that only the pair and Ken, on their immediate other side, missed. Several eyebrows rose, and wicked grins spread like wildfire in dry grass.

"So, how's public school, Jess?" she asked, shifting slightly, causing Adam to suddenly go pale. "Oh!" she exclaimed, shooting to her feet, beet red. "I'll...I'll be right back." As she cleared the table, she grabbed Julie's wrist, who, in turn, grabbed Connie's. The chain of girls disappeared into the bathroom. Jesse laughed at the expression on Adam's face.

"What's the matter, cake-eater? Thought you'd be glad to have her on your lap." Blue daggers flew through the air towards him.

"She elbowed me in the ribs," he said, color slowly returning. One dark eyebrow rose.

"Dude, we're all guys here. We know what happened," commented Fulton, lifting a piece of pizza to his mouth. He chewed and swallowed. "You look like you were going to faint."

"Shut up," Adam ground out. "I said she elbowed me, all right?"

"Sure, man." The girls reappeared, giggling madly. Several eyebrows rose again, this time in their direction. They ignored them. Maurae didn't even bother to ask Jesse to move, but slid into the bench next to him. "Uh, Ro, I gotta get up." She stepped out again and let him through, sitting down next to Adam again.

"Sorry about that," she said to her friend. "I didn't hit you hard, did I?" Adam shook his head and she smiled. She looked up at Jesse and sighed. "You know, this is almost a team reunion. All we need is Portman, and we're good." She sighed and dropped her head onto her arms.

That wasn't what any of them had expected, save maybe the other two girls, who were stuffing their fists in their mouths to stifle giggles.

"What, you didn't know she and Portman were _attracted_?" Connie finally asked their dumbstruck faces, drawing out the word attracted.

"Cons," Maurae said, voice muffled. "I am _not_ attracted to him. I think he's an oaf, actually." She looked up, eyes glittering. "Jess, I need to talk to you, please." She got up and took his arm, practically dragging him away. Once they were across the shop, she stopped. "Please don't try to play matchmaker between me and Adam. I'm not..." She looked back over to her best friend and smiled wistfully. "I'm not ready for it, all right?"

"You do have a thing for him, then?" he asked gleefully. She looked him dead in the eye.

"If you tell anyone, I will skin you alive and leave you to bleed to death in your own bedroom," she threatened with a low growl.

"Ookay..." he replied. They returned to the table. "I think my mom would be cool if you guys want to hit up a movie or something," he said. It seemed like a good idea, so they hurried to get their stuff together and pay for the pizza (who cares if it was free, they're all good kids). It was almost like old times as they skated over to Mall of America, and up to the movie theater.

"Ooh, let's go see the new Steven Segal!" exclaimed Goldberg. Averman elbowed him into silence, earning him a glare until the redhead leaned over and whispered an explanation. Dark eyes went round and he mouthed a startled oh.

Connie rolled her eyes from where she was conferring with Guy, Julie, and Charlie. "I think we should see this one," she said finally, pointing to the poster advertising _Troy_. Maurae's eyes lit up.

"Yes! Oh, yeah! That would be awesome!" Surprised by her enthusiasm, the others agreed one by one. They got in line to buy tickets, and were soon waiting in line to enter the theater. "Hey, Ads, come with me to buy popcorn?" she asked. He was staring at her like she had two heads.

"We just ate!"

"A drink then," she replied easily, shrugging. "Please?" He sighed and followed her out of line, managing to catch Charlie's amused, "He's whipped." Tossing a casual glare over his shoulder at his friend, he followed Maurae to the concession stand.

"What do you want?" he asked, ever the gentleman.

"Nothing," she replied. "Adam, can't you see what they're doing?"

"What, you mean besides trying to matchmake us?" he smirked.

"Good, you noticed. Now...I think we should give them a show. I have a couple ideas."

"Like?" he pressed, intrigued in spite of himself.

"They're going to insist we sit together. I say we make them let us sit in the middle of the row."

"Why?"

"So they'll all be able to look over and see us."

"Have you ever been on a date?" She flushed slightly and he knew the answer. "Okay, then I have a couple ideas of my own." He proceeded to whisper them to her as they waited in line. Coming back without at least a drink was stupid, so they got a soda to 'share' and some jujubees. Then they ducked back into line with their friends, just as the doors opened.

They filled almost an entire row near the middle of the theater, and like Maurae had predicted, the whole team insisted that she and Adam sit together, though it wasn't so blatant as all that, until Charlie finally sighed. "You have to share your drink anyway, so why not sit by each other."

"Okay," Maurae said, filling the word with reluctance. "But I want to sit in the middle." Connie and Guy immediately moved over two, causing the rest of the team seated on their other sides to grumble and get up, moving over to make room. "Thanks, guys." She and Adam sat down. She hid a smirk. This was going to be fun.

The lights went down in a hurry and the previews started. Adam moved the soda to his other side and raised the armrest between them, so they could scoot closer together. She pretended not to notice. Next, Adam slid his arm around her shoulders. She pretended to be surprised and looked over and up, to find him smiling. She smiled back and leaned closer to his shoulder.

It was a good movie...or it would have been if any of them were paying any attention. Maurae and Adam were playing their roles and the others were watching eagerly. After a while, he started to rub circles on her arm and she laid her head on his shoulder. Pretending to be sleepy, she closed her eyes. Connie heaved a sigh.

Maurae hid a grin. Wait for it...wait for it...

"Well, is he going to kiss her or what?" came to them in a stage-whisper from down the line. "Cuz this movie is actually interesting." Averman, then. Maurae sat up, looked left, looked right, and started to giggle silently. She doubled over and Adam touched her back lightly. He was laughing too.

That was enough for her. Wiping her eyes, she got up and left the theater, still laughing helplessly.

* * *

Adam and Maurae were laughing when they stumbled through the Banks' front door. Maurae sobered first. "I'm glad things are back to normal...sort of," she said. They climbed the stairs slowly. "It was killing me, not having you and Charlie speaking to each other. And then not speaking to me...I thought I was going to cry in front of Riley that day when you...well, you remember."

"I was an ass," he replied matter-of-factly. She stopped in front of the door to the room she always used when sleeping here and turned to look at him.

"No. You were hurt. I hurt you. And I'm sorry." She crossed the hall and lifted onto her toes to kiss his cheek. It was what he'd been waiting for. He turned his head and caught her lips. After a brief, electrifying moment, she stepped back. "Ads..." Anguish filled her eyes and he suddenly felt like he'd just ruined everything. "I can't..." His face fell and he started to turn. She stopped him with a gentle hand. "Not yet," she added. "Give me time?" He nodded, barely containing his joy.

"Night, Ro."

"Night, Ads."

She closed the door behind her and leaned on it, then lifted one shaking hand and touched her lips. _'He kissed me,'_ she whispered to herself. She sighed, crossed to the bed, and flopped down face-first. _'I guess it's finally time for self-analysis,'_ she mused. Rolling over,she stared at the ceiling.

The first time she'd even had an inkling that she might like Adam as more than friend and teammate...she thought back. The first day of hockey camp. She had missed _Adam, _not Dwayne. Adam, not Charlie or Jesse. She moved on. When he'd confronted her after the scholarship ceremony...when they'd do their homework together...she owed her passing grade in math to him, she knew. She remembered when Carrie and Derek had planted the idea in her head that Adam loved her, the flash of jealousy when Carrie had asked her about Adam that first night in the dorm, her discomfort whenhe'd made Varsity, the fury when she'd thought he'd helped prank them, the hurt when she thought he'd deliberately not wanred them about the Minnesota Club incident...memories and thoughts swirled fster than she could recognize them.

Sighing, she got up and pulled on her headphones. Music would help. Music always helped. She hit play and music started blasting in her ears. She rolled back over and stared some more at the ceiling, humming, but not really hearing the words for a few minutes, until:

_How much longer will it take to cure this,_

_Just to cure it cuz I can't ignore it_

_If it's love, Love, Makes me want to turn around and face me _

_But I don't know nothin bout love, uh-uh._

She sat up slowly, listening closely, then starting to smile hugely. This was it exactly! She pulled the headphones off and hit stop, thinking hard. She knew she didn't just like Adam as a friend anymore. It was more. Less than love, probably (she's only fourteen, people!), but much more than friendship and perhaps, someday...She shook her head at that notion. _'Let tomorrow worry about tomorrow,' _she reminded herself sternly.

She pulled off her capris and exchanged them for her sleeping shorts, the t-shirt for her cami. Then she pulled her hair out of its tail and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth. Daniel grinned at her from his side of the sink and winked. She only rolled her eyes and stuck her toothbrush in her mouth, brushing vigorously and trying to ignore the boy she thought of as another older brother.

He rinsed and spat and put his toothbrush away. Walking out the door, he paused and turned to look at her over his shoulder. "I think he's still awake, if you want to talk to him." The look on her face was priceless, and made more amusing by the white foam in and around her mouth. Then she glared at him, rinsed and spit. He was gone when she straightened to retort. She sighed and shook her head.

"I've had it up to here with nosy matchmakers," she growled to herself as she stalked back to her room. She saw Daniel's eyes watching through his cracked door. "Good _night_, Daniel!" she called before shutting her door behind her, again.

* * *

**AN:** Okay, so this one is rather short. But seeing as I've updated like four times in the past two days, I figured I'm entitled. This one was more of an interlude than anything else, but I didn't want to call it that, especially so soon since the last one. I've really got the creativity flowing now, and I hope I've kept my die-hards happy so far.

Next chappie will be up soon, and we'll be doing the board meeting. I hope you don't mind my getting inside the characters' heads. It's kind of fun, the slow realization thingy. And for those of you who knew it would happen before even I did, I salute you!

**ChocolateCoveredJockey:** I hope that was hilarity enough for you. If not, I apologize profusely. I'll try harder next time.


	34. From Heaven to Hell in a Wicker Basket

**AN:** Bear with me on this one. I've been **_VERY_** depressed recently, and I'm trying to work through that, since this chapter is kind of a long one. I would like to thank all of you wonderful people who mad emy day with your reviews, even though I'd already read them: **antiIRONY, punkteacher, and ChocolateCoveredJockey**. You guys are the whole reason writers write! Thanks to all of you, for your reviews and for your support!

**Chapter dedication:** Like I promised. Christine, this one's for you. Since you're the only one who will play with me. It's Second Corinthians 5:14: "For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died." Friends like you make life worth living.

* * *

"From Heaven to Hell in a Wicker Basket"

Monday morning came all too quickly, and the customary gorans about the shortness of the weekend were in obvious abundance. They were so automatic that no one really listened to any of the others.

Fulton's dark eyebrows crashed together when he saw Adam come into the mess with Scott and Riley rather than Maurae, who arrived a few minutes after, bearing a bagel in one hand. "Morning all," she said merrily, plopping into her seat. "How were your weekends?"

"Unhh," was the most common response from her sleep-deprived friends. Fulton's was different, however.

"What's he doing over there?" he demanded. She glanced where he indicated and smiled.

"Who, Adam? He's sitting with his teammates. He rather neglected them last week while we were,grieving. He thought it would probably be more appropriate to eat with them again, now that the funeral's over." Fulton wasn't the only one staring at her anymore. "What?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Why isn't he sitting with _you_?" demanded Dwayne heatedly. She blinked.

"Why should he be? We're not his teammates anymore, even though we're friends again." This wasn't the answer they wanted.

"Darling," Averman began in a patronizing, explaining-to-children voice. "Adam is madly in love with you. Why, then, is he sitting with his teammates, rather than the beautiful creature you are? Not that I'm complaining," he added in his own voice. "Because it means more of you for me, but still! I thought we did pretty well pushing you together on Saturday. When's the wedding?"

"You'll get an invitation in the mail," she giggled. "As for the team gossip vine, I'm disappointed. You're usually dead on with who's going out with whom."

"You mean...after all our work...you're _not_!" the redhead practically shouted. Maurae shook her head, smiling. To her surprise, Averman flashed her a smirk. "That's okay. I've got until the JV-Varsity game to rectify the situation." She blinked dumbly at him, then scowled.

"I don't need a _matchmaker!_" she screeched. Unfortunately for her, the relative emptiness of the mess worked against her. All those not already upright turned to look directly at the Ducks' table. She turned bright red and sank down in her seat a little more, but managed to catch Adam's grin from across the room. She couldn't help smiling in response. "Come on, guys, let me handle my own social life for once," she pleaded.

"Ro, I've got twenty bucks riding on when he kisses you," Averman stated frankly. If her face could have gotten redder, it would have. She glared at him.

"You're taking _bets _on my social life now?" she demanded. "That's low even for you."

"I know," he sighed happily. "I've hit rock bottom. I'm such a lower life-form." She stood and puched his shoulder playfully as she walked by.

"I think I'd like to know exactly what the bet was," she said, knowing no one was going to tell her. But she'd caught Averman's casual mention of the JV-Varsity game. Shrugging when no one volunteered the information she wanted, she started to walk across the room, towards Adam's table.

When she arrived, she grinned at him. He returned it. Riley scowled. For some reason, they had managed to get through the trouble he'd caused. They were friends again, and from the look of it, as close as ever. "What's up, Ro?" Adam asked, as though she hadn't parted company with him only twenty minutes ago. She tilted her head to one side and touched her cheek, winking cheekily.

"Averman's got twenty bucks riding on the results of Saturday afternoon," she told him cheerfully, deliberately using obscure words that only Adam would pick up on. His blue eyes twinkled. "Something about having until the JV-Varsity game. I'm thinking he'll win if it's pre. Dunno who he's betting against, but I'm pretty sure he'll lose if it happens after the game." Riley, tired of her word games, growled and stood.

"What are you talking about? And why are you over here, _freshman_?" he demanded, turning her status into an insult.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" she shot back. "I'm talking to my friend. It's what people do." She flipped her hair over her shoulder in a girlish gesture of dismissal that made both Adam and Scooter snort into their cereal, masking them as very fake coughs when their captain turned his glare on them. "So anyway, where was I? Oh, yes. I forgot toask you this morning. Did you finish looking over my geometry homework?"

"Oh, right!" He dug through his backpack under his chair and pulled out his math book. Shoved into the front cover, with his own pre-calc homework was her geometry problems. He handed them over. "You got them all right, but I corrected one of your proofs. You used like twelve steps when you could have used six or seven."

"Thanks. Do you want- Charlie!" she exclaimed, completely forgetting the question she was going to ask. Her mop-headed friend simply grinned, sweeping her into a hug and spun in a circle before setting down. Then he looked at Adam and the two traded stares until Adam smiled and stood, holding out a hand.

"Welcome back, captain," he said softly. With that, Charlie's smile grew, if possible, even wider, and her grabbed his friend's wrist firmly.

"It's good to be back again, Banksie." He motioned to the grinning Maurae with his shoulder. "You don't mind?"

"She's your friend too," was the serene reply. She threw herself on the back of Charlie's shoulders and hugged him again, right in front of the affronted Rick Riley, the amused Scott Reynolds, and the ever-confused Cole Aaronson.

"And you'd best remember it," she whispered. She looked at the Varsity boys. "Sorry to bother you so long. Ads, I'll see you in bio. Come on, captain," she said, threading her arm through his and pulling him away.

"Are you really that glad to see me, or were you just playing it up for those fools?"

"If you need an answer to that question," she mocked, "then you're more of an idiot than I thought."

"I thought so," he said quietly, pulling her into a small sideways hug. She grinned up at him, a smile that faded slightly when she thought of something.

"Have you talked to Coach Orion yet?" she asked. His face immediately soured a bit and he shook his head. "Char-lee!" she whined. "We've got a game this afternoon! You...you moron!"

"I was planning on talking to him before you all left for the game," he replied.

"Oh, come on, Conway, just say y'all like the rest of us," she teased. "And I am glad to have you back," she added as they left the mess. He mussed her hair, earning him a glare, but he was in too good a mood to care.

* * *

After she'd finished stowing her hockey bag under the bus, she filed in. "Grabeklis..." Orion muttered. "Wu..." he read off the list as Ken followed her on. She was staring out the window.

_'Where is he? He said he'd talk to Orion today! He's going to miss us!'_

"Mendoza...Fulton..." Orion continued to drone on. Then he stopped in surprise. "Conway?" Her head flashed up and she caught Charlie's sheepish grin from the front of the bus.

"I want to do it your way," Charlie said softly. I want to play two-way hockey." He hesitated, then offered a small but genuine smile of apology. "Can I come back?" The rest of the team waited, holding their collective breath, as cliché as that sounds, for Orion's verdict.

"Take a seat, we're running late," the man finally said, smiling. Charlie bounded up the rest of the way and made his way down the aisle, slapping hands as he went, until he dropped down next to Russ, who grinned wickedly.

"Aw, man, you should have seen your face," the black boy teased. Drawing two fingers down his cheeks in a mockery of tears, he imitated his friend. "Aw, Coach, I wanna play two-way hockey, can I come back, pleeeze?" Charlie playfully punched him. "Ow!" Russ punched him back and they started to tussle. Maurae and Julie, her seat-partner, shared a grin and a rueful headshake.

"Good, I almost missed you!" exclaimed the cheerful voice Maurae had come to loathe. About to open her mouth to tell the two boys to shut up, she whipped around in her seat and stared at the blankly cheerful face of their dean. "Coach, mind if I have a few words with your boys?"

"And girls!" Julie exclaimed, offended.

"Right, and girls," the man corrected himself with that same fake, pained smile.

"Sure, dean, but make it quick, we're running late as it is."

"This will only take a minute, but I'm afraid it's important. We're having a board meeting tomorrow and, well, you all are on the agenda. The board," he said bracingly, so that all of them were suddenly feeling twice as apprehensive, "is going to approve the withdrawal of your scholarships." The news hit them like a particularly weighty load of bricks. "Now, you'll be free to stay on until the end of the semester, but after that, it will be necessary for you to enjoy other educational opportunites."

Despite his big, fancy words, Maurae knew exactly what he was talking about. She'd been afraid of this only the week before. "Dean, can I have a word with you?" Orion ground out, and Maurae was touched both by his fury, and by his control.

"I think I've said all I need to say," Dean Buckley said, as though he sensed Orion would rather pound him into the ground than talk to him.

"No," Orion snapped. "Now." He stood up, cutting quite an imposing figure with his scowl and his brawny build. Buckley nodded and left the bus, left them staring open-mouthed in shock at each other.

"Other educational opportunities? What's he sayin', Russ?" Dwayne repeated as Maurae tried to hear Orion and Buckley. She stood up slowly as Russ explained almost gently.

"I'll put it in terms you can understand. Adios amigo."

"Oh."

They were all gravitating towards the front of the bus now, and they all heard it as Orion lost his cool. "So you're dumping them, just like that!"

"Ted, I'm sorry, but your team isn't performing, and I've been under enormous pressure-"

"From who?" Orion interrupted rather rudely. "The alumni? A group of aging pep-clubbers?"

"Ted, I'm trying to do _you_ a favor!" Buckley exclaimed, trying to put a good spin on it. "With those kids gone, you'll get to pick your own team!" The way he said 'those kids' made it more of an insult than a distinction.

"I've got my team," Orion said coolly, firmly. "All right? Either they stay, or I go!" Warmth swept through the group of hockey players huddled just inside the bus. _This_ was what they needed. _This _was the kind of coach they craved.

"We'll miss you, Ted," Buckley said, clapping a hand on his shoulder before rushing away smugly, as though he'd known Orion was going to react this way. Scoffing angrily, the team descended to the pavement.

"Can't we do anything?"Russ demanded.

"We were just pawns on a chessboard..." Averman, of course.

"Hey, I know where that dude lives," Luis growled.

"Jesters to entertain a king..."

"Can they do that?"

"Barnacles on a-"

"Shaddup!" Russ said, placing a hand in front of Averman's face, effectively cuttin him off.

"Coach, don't we have contracts or something?" Julie asked. Maurae seconded it with a nod; she'd actually read hers all the way through before signing it, much to her friends' amusement and her lawyer's pride.

"I don't know what it is," Orion replied, his eyes glittering dangerously. "All I know is that we're going to fight it."

* * *

Maurae growled and shoved the scholarship contract away from her. The others looked up expectantly. "Guys, it's the same as it was last time I read it. It says they can legally void the scolarships if they have just cause. It does no good to look up what their definition of 'just cause' is, because as far as we're concerned, it's fluid. What we need is-"

"A lawyer!" Charlie sang out as he sauntered into the room, a big grin on his face. Everyone rolled their eyes, except Adam, who looked thoughtful. If Hans' death had brought him back, this scholarship incident unified them.

"I could ask my dad if he'd mind representing us..." he began thoughtfully.

"No need to trouble him, Banksie," Charlie replied, holding the door open. "I've already found the perfect guy for the job." And in walked Gordon Bombay, with a huge smile on his face.

"Coach!" they chorused.

"Hey, Ducks. I heard you were having some trouble out here." He took off his suit jacket and swung it over the back of a chair, spying Maurae's scholarship folder in front of her. His eyebrows rose. "What've you been doing?"

She sighed, blowing some stray hairs off her forehead and out of her eyes. "They wanted me to read it through again, to be sure I didn't miss anything the first three times I read it through."

"You...actually _read_ your contract?"

"Front to back, sideways, and diagonal, Coach," she replied. "Working on backwards now. The only thing it says about voiding them specifies a just cause requirement. But in this case, the definition for just cause is to flexible. We haven't won a game yet, but we've only played two, and the first one was a tie. I think they look at our lack of an instantaneous winning streak as their just cause in our case." Bombay looked increasingly more impressed.

"You'd make quite the lawyer, Ro," he commented at last, making her flush and grin.

"No thanks. But my mom's a lawyer, so I picked up a lot of the legal jargon along the way. She read it over with me before I signed anyway." She shrugged and lifted her hands in surrender. "If you can think of anything that would help..."

"That's what I'm here for. Why don't you get going back to Eden. I've got a copy of the scholarship contract. I'll look it over tonight and see what I can pull together for tomorrow." They looked about to protest, so he lifted an eyebrow. "Don't you have curfew? I'm sure _that_ woul dmake a good impression tomorrow, violating curfew." That, of course, decided them. They all piled into the van Orion had driven to bring them all out to Adam's house and headed back to the school, still discussing ways to get around the board. Ideas that were quite ludicrous and even amusing. Like egging Riley's house and keying his car.

* * *

"Do I have a motion to reinstate?" Silence rang loudly in their ears. Across the room, Riley and the rest of Varsity were smirking to each other. Maurae struggled not to glare at them, instead focusing her attention on a spot above Riley's head, imagining a large stone (or an anvil) falling on his head and knocking him over. "I'm sorry, Coach, but without a motion from a board member, and a second, there's nothing I can do."

Orion didn't twitch. Maurae admired his perfect control. She was standing on her own foot, fingernails digging deep crescents into her palms, and biting her bottom lip to keep from grinning, knowing what his next move had to be. Across the room, again, she caught Riley looking at her with a smirk. He must think she was scared or something. _'Sadistic bastard!'_ she thought at him, then flushed pink, astonished at her own thoughts.

"Then you leave us no choice," he said blandly. "But to bring in our...attourney." His eyes swept to the door, which wa sopened from the outside. Bombay had been waiting for this cue. _'All lawyers are actors,' _Maurae thought gleefully.

"Dean," the wiry man greeted him solemnly. "As representative for Coach Orion...and the freshman hockey team..."

Maurae finally lost control, despite all the pain she was putting herself in, and smiled. She got off her foot, relaxed her hands, and stopped biting her lip. For a moment, those places throbbed painfully, then it subsided. She listened blissfully to Bombay as he handled the board of diresctor briskly. She snickered silently at the dumbfounded expression on Buckley's face as Bombay thrust his briefcase into the older man's hands.

"Mr Bombay, this isn't a legal preceeding," he squeaked.

"Not yet," the confident attourney declared. "But I guarantee that it will be." Blah blah blah... (**AN: **Again, sorry about exact dialgue!) "These scholarships...an offer...became binding contracts upon the signatures of the recipients, and cannot be voided except for cause, which I guarantee you you have none. If you decide to pursue their cancellation, I will slap you with an injunction. I will tie this matter up in court for years, until long after these kids have gone off to college. And I will collect damages. I will win. Because I am very, _very_ good. You know why I'm so good? Because I had a good education. You gave it to me. And you're going to give it to these kids."

He paused a moment for drama and Maurae heard Orion whisper to Charlie, "He _is_ good."

"He's just getting started," her captain murmured back.

She lost track of things for a moment, because she felt someone touching her hand. She looked down and then up again, finding Adam watching Bombay, but reaching for her hand. She immediately seized his and held on tight. This was one of those 'defining moments', and they were going to have to face it together. He smiled slightly.

"Very well," Buckley sighed. "Do I have a motion for reinstatement?"

A ripple of apprehensive murmurs swept through the room. Then a woman sighed and lifted her arm. "I move...that the scholarships...be reinstated," she said slowly, as though unable to believe what she was suggesting.

"Do I hear a second?"

"Do we have a choice?" was the most common whisper among the remaining board members, but one finally raised his reluctant hand.

"All in favor?" Slowly, one by reluctant one, all hands went up. "Scholarships reinstaed," Buckley said formally, but the Ducks were ignoring him by then. They'd just thrown their arms around their nearest neighbor. In Maurae's case, Adam.

He whispered in her ear, "This time, I'm _not_ letting Varsity claim me."

"Good," she whispered back, filled with smug satisfaction. Then she pulled away, still holding his hand, and moved to follow the rest of the team out of the room. She was reaching for Charlie's arm when a brunette she didn't know slipped between them.

"Charlie!" she crowed.

"Hey!" the brunet exclaimed, clearly surprised. "Sorry I was such a jerk before. But I'm staying in school. And I still owe you that Coke." Maurae and Adam exchanged confused glances at this. Charlie? And this strange girl? Why hadn't he told them? He shrugged at her and they both stopped, standing at the back end of a face-off between the school's two hockey captains.

"Congratulations," Riley said coolly. "On destroying our school."

"It's our school too," Luis said, sending apreciative and rather suggestive looks at the blonde cheerleader clutching Riley's hand.

"It's everyone's school, you stupid jock," snarled the girl on Charlie's right. Maurae's respect for her lifted a notch, though she still meant to have words with her friend before the day was over.

"No, don't you get it?" Riley sneered. "It'll never be your school. You were our own little affirmative action, brought in for color to entertain us, but you couldn't even do that. Your fancy lawyer kept you in on a technicality."

"You'll never be anything more than a bunch of rejects here on a free ride," leered Cole dumbly.

"Free ride?" Russ repeated incredulously. "Look at you, rich boy," he said, loading the words with scorn. "Mummy and Daddy gave you everything, huh?"

"Hey, Jv-Varsity game's on Friday. We'll show the whole school what a joke you really are." Riley reached out a hand towards Charlie's tie and the whole team stiffened. "Then maybe you'll leave on your own. It'd be the only...honorable thing to do," he added. His fingers just touched the silk tie before Charlie's arm snapped up and deflected him.

"Listen, you had an unfair advantage last time. You had one of us. Banksie." He jerked his head behind him to indicate his friend, who nodded and smirked. Riley eyed his former teammate, taking particular note of Adam's and Maurae's interlocked fingers.

He sneered. "Keep him. He never had the heart of a Warrior anyway." Maurae couldn't help thinking rebelliously, _'Damn straight, moron! His heart is a Duck's heart!'_ Adam's hand and the fact that Charlie was in her way kept her from leaping forward in a fit of temper and clouting the older boy across the jaw.

"Hey, Bif? One more thing," Russ added. "After we beat you, the _Warriors _die. And the _Ducks_ fly."

"Whatever you say, loser." Then Varsity turned and walked away. Slowly, tension left the Ducks' shoulders.

"Good move, Russ," Averman said cheerfully. "Make him even madder. Charlie, man, we gotta do something."

There was new fire in Charlie's eyes. "You're right," he said slowly, his eyes suddenly catching sight of his teammates' joined hands. He raised an eyebrow and bit down on a smirk. "We've got to get to work."

**AN:** So, there you have it. This is turning into an epic or something! Wow! My characters are evolving. And I've decided to do at least one chapter beyond the JV-Varsity game. The victory celebration. With a little bit of flying feathers just for Jockey.

And yes, I know the chapter title had little, if anything, to do with the chapter's actual contents. But it's been a planned chapter title forever (was the original title for "Shipped Direct from Hell", I think), so...here it lies.


	35. Clearing the Garbage

**AN:** I've been getting really creative lately, and I have energy to burn. No, I am no longer depressed. And _no_ I am _not_ bipolar. Thank you _very_ much. It was just a really crappy day. And thanks so much to my reviewers for last chapter! I love your ideas. Maybe I'll work on them, but like I told **punkteacher**, I dunno whether I have the patience to sit through 66 chapters of this. Though it would be kinda fun...

**Chapter Dedication:** This one, I think, should go to the Adam-Ro shippers, who have yet to see some satisfactory romance, have you? Sorry about that. It's kind of out of my hands now, and entirely reliant upon the characters themselves; aren't they cute?. Oh, and Emily, I'm sorry. They made the decision on their own. It wasn't my fault!

* * *

"Clearing the Garbage"

"I realize that he wants to beat the Varsity," Carrie said gently to her prone, exhausted roommate. "But does he have to kill you all in the process? Skating through downtown Minneapolis? Three hour practices, twice a day?" Maurae mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'our choice' and went back to staring at the ceiling. Carrie rolled her eyes heavenward, and hid a smile. Even this utter exhaustion was worth it just to feel that things were back to normal on the floor.

Regular explosions of sound from Charlie and Adam's room was considered standard. Four-thirty am wake-up calls were a norm no one complained about. Nightly study sessions until curfew were expected. It was good to have her life back in order, Maurae thought. But it would be so much nicer to be able to sleep while she was still young enough to enjoy it. Grinning tiredly, she added silently, _But what else could I expect from the life I myself insisted on?_

She blinked when someone banged on the door. Carrie got up to answer it, seeing as Maurae showed no indication of moving from her current position. She stepped back to allow Derek to enter the room. The boy immediately saw the catatonic hockey girl and blinked before smirking. "Tired?"

"She hasn't moved in the last five minutes and her only words to me since she assumed that position weren't intelligible," Carrie said matter-of-factly. "She actually isn't quite interesting to watch. If she weren't breathing, I'd think she was dead. She doesn't even blink all that often." The two theater students continued on this vein for a few more minutes, hoping to elicit a reaction, but Maurae refused to rise to the bait. _I refuse to abandon the only comfortable, silent moment I'm likely to experience for the next three months,_ she told herself. Then she smothered a grin. _Okay, maybe not silent, but comfortable anyway._ She had practice in a half hour anyway, so she was going to enjoy this few minutes of stillness.

Sure enough, five minutes later, someone else knocked, though much more subdued than Derek's vigorous pounding. Carrie also opened that, but by then, Maurae was sitting up and reaching for her shoes. Adam leaned on the door, his own hockey bag slung over his shoulder. Derek and Carrie noticed the striking similarities in the two exhausted teens then. Both had dark circles under their eyes and seemed thinner than was normal, bt both wore identical, goofy grins, and seemed happy. Happier than either had been in a long time.

"Ready?" Adam asked as Maurae slipped her feet into her shoes.

"Yup," the other girl said cheerfully. She bounced up as if she'd been sleeping ten hours a night and getting five meals a day, not like a girl who'd moments ago looked as if she was death warmed over. And Carrie smiled slyly, elbowing Derek, who frowned and started digging in his pockets. As the door clicked closed, he found his wallet and started counting bills into Carrie's hand.

"So..."

"How do you think he's going to mix us up today?" Maurae asked, cheerfully oblivious to her exhaustion. She knew that Adam's presence served her as well as a shot of caffeine, not that she minded. She planned on telling him what she'd decided, after the game. She didn't want either of them getting distracted.

Speaking of distracted, he snatched her arm right before she could run face-first into the glass doors leading outside to dorm building. "Something on your mind, Ro?"

"Always," she replied instantly. "Just preoccupied..and tired."

"Only two more days, and then we can actually relax for more than five minutes," he said, stretching his arms. "I just hope he doesn't want us to go skating into the city again, like we did yesterday. I swear, we skated twenty miles!"

"Probably more. My leg muscles are still shaking," she joked. They shared a grin and then lapsed into a comfortable silence as they crossed the campus. Maurae revelled both in how good it felt to have him back, and in the knowledge that, win or lose, on Friday, she was _going_ to kiss Adam. The very thought made her blush madly.

"Something wrong?" he asked, catching it immediately. Of course he'd caught it, he'd been watching her instead of the sidewalk anyway. She shook her head, but wouldn't meet his eyes. The small grin tugging at her lips relaxed him. It couldn't be bad if she was grinning abou it. He sighed happily. He'd made up his mind the night before, after helping her with her geometry homework. They'd been sitting close enough that he could have done it then, but he wanted to wait until after the game on Friday. Because win or lose, he was _going_ to kiss Maurae.

So they walked on, each happily lost in their own thoughts, so eerily similar to the other's, and not knowing it. They were somewhere between sixth and last to arrive, and were almost finished suiting up by the time Orion came to fetch them. "We're going to take it easier than usual today, team," he said. "I don't want you exhausted and weak for the game. That's why I'm letting you sleep in tomorrow and Friday morning, and we're returning to two-hour practices this afternoon." He received a strangled cheer, half its usual volume, which demonstrated that he'd made the right decision. "Now, let's get out there and see what I've taught you so far."

Obediently, they filed out, assuming your positions. To the surprise of everyone, Maurae had retained her "default position" as front line center. Charlie had taken third, and Adam had taken his old standby of second. And even more surprising, it was working! Charlie and Adam and Maurae had somehow worked out their system. Orion was impressed with the three friends. He guessed that at this point, they didn't even need him to shout commands; they would most likely know when to replace each other.

To see if his theory was correct, he let the team loose, and focused on sitting back and watching them perform. At first, they seemed confused, but they they caught on and started playing almost perfectly. Orion stepped in and corrected a few things, and then stepped back again. Finally, he called a halt to the scrimmage and started them on a series of drills. These, too, they worked out and finished and started a new set. Practice ended, leaving everyone feeling full of contentment, and they hit the showers cheerfully, chatting. Then a few select went to the mess to collect dinner, while everyone else set up the study lounge for their nightly homework sessions.

"Is it just me, or are the teachers sadistic SOB's?" Charlie asked, running his fingers through his messy curls, frustrated. "Or did I just forget how much homeowrk they give?"

"No, they do seem to be piling it on this week," replied Connie absently. She was twisting the end of her braid as she stared at the German worksheet in front of her. "I think they're testing us, to see if what we pulled at the hearing was just a thing to let us play."

"Making us prove we're worth our grades," Guy clarified as he erased one of his answers on his own German worksheet and penciling in the correct answer. "And, of course, it had to be this week."

"Of course," they chorused. Then the room quieted as Goldberg, Averman, Fulton, and Julie returned with the food. Passing it around and eating seemed to take all of their focus, but a few people managed to achieve epiphanies during their meals, and more homework got done than was expected. Group study sessions had helped them all pass the grueling tutoring during the Games, and it was working relatively well now, though Maurae and Luis still refused to study their French work together, and no one but Averman was taking Russian, so he was on his own for that. But the rest of it was like a massive group effort.

For the third day in a row, they left the study lounge right at curfew, stumbling into their beds and falling into them, exhausted. Only at the last minute did Maurae remember to change her alarm for a seven-thirty wake-up instead of four-thirty. Then she curled up under her covers, hugging an overstuffed pillow to her stomach and smiled as she dropped off immediately. Sleeping in was GOOD!

* * *

When the alarm went off the next morning, Carrie blinked and glanced over at it. Hers wasn't blinking like it did when it was buzzing. Surprised, she remembered that she hadn't felt like setting it the night before, figuring she'd set it at four-thirty when Maurae's woke her up. Which is why she was slightly confused when her sleepy brain noticed that her clock read _seven_-thirty rather than the usual _four_-thirty.

She sat up and watched Maurae sleeping for a minute before smiling wickedly Picking up her pillow, she took careful aim and drew back.

"Do it and die. I was _having_ a good dream." Then the brunette opened her eyes and grinned. "A very good dream." Then she sat up and stretched, sliding her legs over the side of the bed. "So, Miss Martin, how much did you win off Derek?"

"Huh?" the redhead blinked. "You knew...?" Seeing the slow smile spreading over her roommate's face, she groaned and chucked her pillow, realizing she'd been played.

"I do now, thanks. But I figured if the rest of the team had a variety of bets going, that my roommate, who loves to dabble in other people's love lives, would have one going as well. How much _did_ you win?"

"About fifty bucks, in total. I won when you'd start speaking to him again, and when you'd start holding his hand. We've still got it going as to when you're going to kiss..." She trailed off, seeing the smug smile on Maurae's face. "You haven't already, have you?" She sounded disappointed.

"Sort of. I've kissed his cheek dozens of times since we met, and the one at his house startled me, so it wasn't even really a kiss."

"But you've got it planned, don't you?" Carrie teased.

"I plead the fifth," retorted Maurae wickedly. Then she tossed Carrie's pillow back onto the end of her friend's bed and stood. "I call dibs on the bathroom first." Then she stode into it and shut the door. Ten minutes later, she reemerged, hair brushed, teeth scrubbed, and face washed. "It's all yours," she said with a mocking bow. Then she went to the (slightly dented) wardrobe and flung the doors open, pulling out a jean skirt and a peasant top Julie had sent her for Christmas the year before. She bent and pulled out a pair of sandals from the bottom of the closet. It was still warm enough to wear sandals and skirts, she was happy to note. While Carrie showered and primped, Maurae dressed and started to braid her long hair. Only able to reach the middle of her back, she was left with quite a bit of unbraided brown hair, but she shrugged, tied it off and started gathering up her homework. By the time she was done, Carrie was done and dressed. The two girls grabbed their bags and keys and left the room for breakfast.

"So, how come you slept in today?"

"No morning practice today or tomorrow. Orion wants us rested up for the game. You coming?"

"And miss the biggest event of the year?"

"Homecoming is Saturday," Maurae replied. "Surely that's bigger than the game?"

"To this school, hell, to this whole friggin _state_, the game is more important. Who're you going with?"

"The rest of the team. We decided that we'd go together since most of us couldn't find dates." Maurae shrugged, though she was inwardly quite disappointed. She did love to dance... Carrie smiled.

"Me neither. I'm going with Derek, Cam, Terry and Sara, from the drama department."

"Cool. See you later."

"Later." Inside the mess, the two roommates parted and went to their respective groups of friends. Maurae smiled as she sat next to Fulton's hunched shoulders and experimentally poked him in the ribs. He shifted and an odd, muffled grunt came from under his arms, but he didn't otherwise react. Knowing her large friend was _very_ ticklish, she poked him again, slightly higher than before. He laughed and his head shot up.

"Hey!"

"Dude," she said, imitating him fairly well. "We got three extra hours of sleep! What're you tired for?" He grinned and ruffled her hair, a gesture she hated, but a futile one with it all in a braid.

"I'm still tired, and so should you be."

"I am, but I'm not silly enough to let you know it. This way, you can all grumble and groan about how unnatural I am." Then she got up, leaving her bag, and trotted over to the food line, returning a few minutes later with her norm: Cinnamon Toast Crunch. She smiled when Adam and Charlie dropped into seats next to her, arguing about something. She poured milk over her cereal and smiled. "Whatcha talkin about?" she asked, rasing a spoon to her mouth. Chewing, she watched them blink at her, then at each toher. Then, amazingly, both flushed and looked away. Swallowing, she grinned. "Now I'm _really_ curious. Come on, what's up?"

"Charlie and Averman have a bet going," Adam started. Maurae held up a hand.

"Say no more, please. I don't want the details. Except this: who wins if it happens _after_ the game on Friday?" Charlie blinked stupidly while Adam looked down to hide his disappointment.

"Well...me, I think," Charlie said thoughtfully.

Then her words sank into Adam's mind completely, and his head jerked up. She hadn't said never, she'd said _after_! Then she shrugged, smiled, and turned her full attention on her cereal.

The day went well, and the whole team, while not exactly looking forward to practice that afternoon, were at least eager to get it over with. "All right, team. You've got this one practice before tomorrow's game to show me what you can really do. Usual scrimmage divisions. Let's do this." He leaned against the wall, next to green trashcan topped by a large cardboard box that everyone assumed was to be used for later in the practice.

He blew the whistle. And everything seemed to go downhill from there. Orion hadn't corrected them this much in one practice since they had met him. Everyone was starting to work on shortening fuses, and most were extremely relieved when he blew a short blast on his whistle an hour into practice.

"Yo, come on! Got over here!" he shouted venomously. "Take a knee!" Uneasy glances started darting between the team members, wondering what the hell they'd done wrong now. "You guys are _not_ skating like Warriors!" That's when they started shooting glares at him. "You look like something else," he added, starting to pull the box open. Charlie and several others craned their necks to try and see the box's contents, with no luck. Orion stuck his hand inside. "You look like...Ducks." And as he said Ducks, he pulled his hand up, revealing the contents of the box at last: Ducks jerseys, matching those they had left on the ice weeks before. "Robertson!" Dwayne caught the jersey flying towards his head as the rest of them cheered and got to their feet, skating over to claim their own.

After a monstrous group hug and a long cheer, they set their new equipment aside and skated out to center ice. Skating in a tight circle, they raised their sticks in the air until they were so hopelessly tangled that Maurae couldn't really tell which one was hers up there.

It was one of the most joyous moments of the year, and she was going to enjoy it, whether she got her stick back or not.

* * *

**AN:** The ending is a little disappointing, I know. I didn't know how to end it, and my computer is being so flippin tempermental, that I thought I'd stop it there and write the game in the next chapter.

Love to all my readers!


	36. Interlude III: Homecoming Preparations

**AN:** Incredibly short, I know. I _am_ sorry about that. But I couldn't get the inspiration flowing any other way than to write this little teaser chapter, and it means that the next chapter (the game) will be upcoming in the next chapter. Wish me luck and inspiration!

* * *

"Homecoming Preparations"

"No, seriously, Ads," Maurae said. "I want to invite Jesse." It was Thursday night; the JV-Varsity game was the next day, and the Homecoming dance the day after that. She, Adam, and Carrie were lounging in the girls' room, talking about the dance (Carrie had forbidden further discussion of the game and its possible outcome) on Saturday.

"Why? Jess made it clear he doesn't want to come,"

"Oh well. He's still a Duck, Ads. And I registered him yesterday, after practice. That Linda girl, the one that Charlie likes, she gave me the ticket. So now all I have to do is convince Jess he needs to come."

"Good luck!" he laughed.

"I'll bribe him, if I have to," she said. Smiling, she rolled over, so her head was hanging off the side of the bed. "Carrie's going with her friends, and Guy and Connie…so obvious. Russ wants to ask Jules specifically, and then Charlie said he was going to ask Linda. Last minute, so typical. And I'm going to have like ten dates, so I won't feel left out. Eleven, if I can convince Jess. Either way, he's paying for this bloody ticket."

Adam and Carrie laughed, and after a minute, Maurae laughed as well. Carrie blinked at her, a sudden thought occurring to her. "Do you have something to wear?"

"Um…no. Not really, no," Maurae admitted sheepishly.

"So…the dance is on Saturday, your game is tomorrow, and you have nothing to wear to Homecoming?"

"Um…yes?"

"All right. I'm getting you up at eight on Saturday, and we're going shopping."

"Can't," Maurae said, slightly triumphantly. "No money."

"No big," Carrie replied easily. "I've got fifty bucks, and I'm going to buy you a decent dress if I have to spend all my Christmas money too!"

"Carrie, I don't need-"

"We're going, and there's no way you're getting out of it, so stop whining."

"Yes, ma'am," Maurae retorted sarcastically. "Ads, you have something to wear, right?"

"Yeah. Mom reminded me about my shirt, so she's ironing it and bringing it and my slacks over before the game tomorrow."

"Lucky you," Maurae grumbled under her breath.

"Hey, what about that outfit you wore to…the Minnesota Club?" Adam asked. "You looked good in that."

"First off, I never _did_ get the food stains out of that blouse. And second, the skirt belonged to Connie. So that'll be a no go, I think," she shrugged in reply.

"I'm doing your hair again," Carrie stated abruptly. "When I get done with you, every guy in school is going to ask you for a dance."

"They'd better _not_," Adam muttered under his breath, causing both girls to look at him strangely.

"What did you just say?" Maurae asked, curious. "It sounded a lot like you said 'elephant fluff,' but that's just weird, and I know you're not crazy…well, not that crazy, anyway."

"Yes, I said elephant fluff," he grinned. "And wouldn't you know it, I was talking in code. Sorry. The meaning is top secret."

"Adam, you can't _keep_ a secret," Maurae reminded him, rolling over again so she could look at him right-side up. "You're part of a hockey team. Everybody knows everybody else's business. We can all read minds. Didn't you get that memo?"

"No, it appears to have gotten lost on the way to my hard drive," he retorted.

"You two have gotten really silly in the past few days. Ever since last weekend. Is something going on?" Carrie cut in slyly, knowing the answer to that perfectly well. Both teens instantly shut up and looked in opposite directions, making Carrie grin. "Good answer. I like Rae's better. 'I plead the fifth.' Word of advice: never answer a yes or no question with 'I plead the fifth.' It's an automatic yes."

"Shut up, it is not!"

"In this case it was, right?"

Maurae reddened. "Well…"

"See?"

"Shut up. Nobody asked you!"

Carrie laughed, Maurae pouted, and Adam looked from one to the other, completely confused. "Um…you're not going to explain any of that to me, are you?"

"Nope," Carrie said as Maurae shook her head vigorously.

"Okay." Groaning, he got up and stretched. "I'm going to see if Charlie's gotten up the nerve to call Linda yet. See you at breakfast."

"See you," the girls chorused as the door shut behind him. Then Maurae turned a glare on her friend. "You know, keeping secrets from the team is hard enough without you opening your mouth and blabbing them to the only person I _specifically_ don't want to find out."

"Hey!" Carrie said, holding up her hands in defense. "It's not like I _want_ him to kiss you yet! I lose all the money I won if you kiss him before the end of the game tomorrow."

"Yeah, see, I still can't believe everybody's taking wagers on when we're going to kiss. What if he and I were just best friends?"

"Are you?"

"For now we are."

"What about after the game tomorrow?"

"I don't know. We'll see about that after the game, won't we?"

"Yup. Are you guys going out to celebrate after?"

"If we win, yes. If we lose, it won't be a celebration; it'll be a pity party, but either way, Jesse's family said we've got free pizza after the game tomorrow. Hey, bet you twenty bucks I can convince Jesse to come to the dance on Saturday."

"Twenty bucks?"

"Yeah. I'll need some shoes to go with that dress you plan on buying for me." Shaking her head in a mixture of amusement and exasperation, Carrie groaned.

"You're hopeless."

"Yes, I know."


	37. Fighting Made Acceptable

**Chapter Dedication: the holy see:** You're wonderful. Thanx so much for your review. It was inspiration for me to get my muses off their asses and back to work!

**AN:** Just a little note for those of you who watch the movie more often than I do. I have been mondo busy with school (finals suck), work (don't even get me started), and household duties (okay, since when is decorating for Christmas mandatory?). Also, I have been flooded with a new obsession in the form of violent anime (_Yu Yu Hakusho_ is solely to blame! Bishonen are so fun to play with!) But I just wanted you to know that I haven't forgotten; I've just had to regularly bludgeon my mind awake in the morning, so I'm not totally mentally aware…yeah, and I have an 8-page research paper due tomorrow that I haven't started researching for yet. This just shows how much I love you all!

**BIG NOTE:** Once again, I am sorry for messing up exact dialogue!

* * *

"Fighting Made Acceptable"

"I'm going to be sick," Maurae moaned as she sat on the bench in front of her locker. She was fully suited up for the game, her Ducks' jersey covering her pads proudly, her name on the back. It was as good as the old days. And that was why she was bent over double, despite the added bulk, her forehead resting on her knees. Even ever-flexible Ken was watching her with amusement. No one should have been able to even _reach_ that position in hockey gear, let alone hold it as easily as she seemed to be doing.

"Pre-game jitters?" Charlie demanded. "Since when do _you_ get pre-game jitters?"

"I don't," she replied, straightening, much to her teammates' relief. She looked all right, save for a bit pale and peaky.

"You didn't eat this morning, did you?" Adam asked, knowing the answer, as he'd avoided breakfast as well. But he'd had lunch, and now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen her there. "Ro! Have you eaten today?"

"What do you think I am, stupid?" she snapped. "Of course I ate. Carrie forced a sandwich down my throat at lunch."

"Well, at least one of you has some sense," he shot back. She opened her mouth to retort, and then grinned at him.

"So glad you noticed."

"Come on, lovebirds, we're ready," Charlie teased. Adam and Maurae glared at him, but got up, grabbing their gloves, helmets, and sticks and following their captain-in-all-but-name out of the locker room and into the crowded rink. He stepped out onto the ice first and stood for a moment, watching the Varsity boys skate in circles. Then, in a moment of leader-esque maturity, Charlie turned back to his team. "This," he said firmly, solemnly, in a voice loud enough for them all to hear, barely. "Is for Hans." And like that, something lifted off their shoulders. Not visibly or completely, but they all shared a bond with their deceased teacher and inspiration. Whether they won or lost, they would play their best, the way only they knew how: with all the heart they could muster.

One by one, they skated onto the ice, dropping their gloves, forming a circle. And then, almost in eerie unison, they bent sideways, still skating smoothly, and touched the ice, letting their bare fingers brush through the ice shavings churned up by their passing. Maurae found herself praying as she skated, tears glitering as they fell to the ice and freezing instantly.

_Lord, thanks for Hans' influence in the team. Without him...we wouldn't be inspired. And God? Help us kick butt today!_

She almost laughed at herself. Maybe that last bit had been a little disrespectful, but it had just come out. And she'd meant it the way she'd said it. She straightened with the rest, stopping her amusement at her own prayer, and began warm-ups with the others.

A warm feeling of contentment rose in her chest. This is what playing was supposed to feel like. Grinning, she took a shot that Julie easily caught, and smirked, skating to the back of the line to wait her turn again. After a few more shots, the whistle blew, announcing the beginning of the game. The two teams skated over to their benches and gathered into a huddle. Orion read off the names of the night's starters (Adam, Guy, Luis, Fulton, Charlie, and Julie in goal) and motioned them closer.

"On three…quack." Trading gleeful looks, they obeyed as he counted. "One, two, three, Quack, Quack, Quack…"

They joined in eagerly, "Quack, Quack, Quack…"

As did their fans, "Quack, Quack, Quack…"

Until the rink rang with the shouts. Parents, friends, and fans of the Ducks eagerly joined in the cacophony that was the sweetest music Charlie, or any of them, had heard in a long time.

"Gooooo Ducks!" they finally shouted. Cheers took the place of the insane quacking and both teams took to the ice. Adam had regained his former spot of front line center, and went out to take the face-off against Riley. Their helmet plates couldn't have been a centimeter apart, and their lips moved, but they were the only ones who heard whatever it is they said.

"You're gonna wish like hell you'd stuck with us," Riley sneered.

Rolling his eyes, Adam replied, "Save the trash talk." The referee dropped the puck and in a flash of movement, Adam went down and Riley tore down the ice with the puck, weaving through the Ducks like a needle through cloth.

It wasn't the game they had hoped for, but it was definitely the one they'd trained for.

* * *

"My head…" Maurae moaned as she dropped onto the bench and wrenched her helmet off. She shook it a few times to stop the ringing, but nothing happened. At least it wasn't echoing anymore. Orion was watching her for a sign of reassurance, so she flashed him a thumbs-up, and then dropped her head onto Russ's shoulder.

"Next time, try not to stop the puck with your head," was all he advised. She stuck her tongue out, but his eyes were fixed on the game. Julie had just crawled from behind the net to- barely- stop the puck that had come within an inch of entering the goal.

"I didn't try to stop it with my head, jerk," she muttered.

"Sure looked like it from here," he shot back. She stayed silent. Now that the ringing had faded somewhat, her head had started to pound fiercely. That was okay. The second period would be over in about two minutes, and she could pop some Tylenol in the locker room.

It was an exciting two minutes. Despite her head, she was on her feet, cheering with the rest of them when Adam jumped in front of an airborne puck that would have gone into the net cleanly. Julie scrambled to her feet and skated out in front of it, thanking him vigorously. He grinned, embarrassed at the praise, and skated after the puck, now in Charlie's hands.

The buzzer went off, and the Ducks relaxed with a collective sigh of relief, both on and off the ice. Skating out of the rink, they trooped to the locker rooms and sat down, sweating and exhausted.

Maurae hugged Adam before sitting to hunt for some Tylenol. "That was a sweet save, Ads," she commented, head buried in her hockey bag. He grinned and fished a small bottle of pain-killer from the side pocket.

"Not so bad yourself, Ro," he replied, shaking it to get her attention. "Though when we say 'use your head,' I don't think we mean it quite like that."

"Ha ha," she deadpanned, snatching the bottle and quickly uncapping it. Tossing two back, she picked up a random water bottle and washed them down, then took a few extra swallows to wash down the bitter taste. "You're a funny guy. I never knew." Her dry monotone made him laugh, and they both looked up when Orion walked in, smiling, but in no way enthusiastically.

"You're working hard. I'm proud of you team."

"They're cheap-shotting us to death," Ken complained, nursing a sore shoulder.

"I know they are. I know they are."

"At this rate, we need a miracle," Guy sighed, leaning back. He, along with everyone else, jumped when the door banged into the wall.

"Dean Portman is awarded a full scholarship to the Eden Hall Academy," called out that familiar, but sorely missed voice. He looked up, that same cocky grin on his face, eyes sparkling with mischief. "I had this lyin' around the house in Chicago; my attorney thought I should sign it. I agreed. It's official, boys, I'm back!" Fulton was the first on his feet to welcome his fellow Bash Brother back. The others weren't far behind. Only Maurae, Adam, Charlie, and Orion stayed out of the melee.

Charlie smirked and rolled his eyes at their friends' flair for the dramatic. "Bombay," he murmured simply. The other three nodded, and the two boys went to greet Portman. Only Maurae stayed back, frowning. Then she shook her head and walked forward to join the group greetings.

Needless to say, the mood was decidedly more cheerful as Dean Portman stepped to the only available locker and started to pull off his leather jacket.

"You are _such_ a show-off," she muttered, knowing he could hear her, even over the cheers and chatter of the rest of the team. He turned a cheeky grin on her, noting that though her arms were crossed, her eyes were twinkling, and she was fighting a smile.

"What can I say?" he replied nonchalantly, leaning forward slightly, his voice low. "I couldn't stay away from you." With that, he darted forward and pressed his lips to hers for one shocking moment. When he pulled back, grinning, her face was the picture of stunned disbelief. Then her eyes cleared and she scowled.

"Think highly of yourself, don't you?" she asked, keeping her voice low and controlled, glancing around to check who had seen.

"Yeah, actually, I do."

Sighing in frustration, she turned away and dove into a conversation with Julie and Russ about how the rest of the game might go.

"You've been wanting to do that," Fulton's low voice accused form the other side. Portman looked at him, grinning cheekily.

"Do what?"

"Oh, don't play stupid with me," Fulton chuckled, punching his arm lightly. "I saw the look on your face when she gave you a hug."

"Okay, yeah. So I wanted to do that. Before, she was with Dwayne. Now she's not, from what your…one email told me. So I tried it."

"And?"

"And I liked it. I might go back for seconds after we win," he shrugged, pulling on his pads.

"Be careful, man. She and Adam…they've gotten closer."

"So? The rich boy has everything already. I'm sure a little disappointment will be good for his character." Fulton shook his head at his 'bro's' stubborn refusal to admit that Maurae might not choose him.

"All right, dude. But watch how you handle her. She's not the soft, shy little thing she appears to be."

"When was she ever soft?"

"You might be surprised."

"That'll be the day, Fult, man. That'll be the day."

"Are you ready?" shouted Orion, voice carrying over the muted roar of their locker room chatter. Portman pulled his jersey on over his pads, checked his skate laces one more time, and then gave the thumbs-up. They filed out of the locker room and back onto the ice, where Portman immediately set aside all thoughts of anything but the game. He started cheering, rousing the crowd, and prompting Josh to give him a shout-out.

Maurae sat on the bench, her head aching fiercely, her thoughts in knots. 'He kissed me. _He_ kissed _me_. He _kissed_ me.' Then she shook her head. 'Get over it, girl. It's just Portman.' Then why, oh, why, were her hands shaking hard enough to make her body shiver? And why was that little kiss the only thing she could think about? 'I _don't_ like Portman,' she insisted to herself firmly. 'I like Adam. I'm going to kiss Adam after the game.'

That settled, she looked up and grinned. Cole was out on the ice, facing off with Portman, who was smiling cheerfully, while the former looked confused.

"So, you're the big enforcer, huh?" Portman said, hiding his smirk behind a pleasant smile. Fulton's one email (man, that boy needed to work on his communication skills!) had talked about his new girlfriend, his very brief stint as a school-less wonder, and the Varsity hockey team, namely the enforcer, Cole Aaronson, who had the I.Q. of a cabbage. "You know, we've got something in common-"

"Shut up!" Cole snapped, refusing to let this walk-on confuse him further. "Let's play hockey!"

_Now_ he let himself smirk. Pulling down his face guard and slipping on his glove, he got into a crouching position. "Whatever you say, Sunshine," he murmured. Across the ice, he noticed Maurae sitting in the box, staring at nothing, and his smirk intensified. He'd given her something to think about, then.

As soon as the puck hit the ice, he backed up and spun out of Cole's way, skating off to one side. "Let's see what you got, Bash Brother!" Cole called, then he started skating for him. Illegally, to be precise. So Portman knew he'd be completely justified in…

Crouching a little, He let Vole hit his back, then stood up fast, sending the Varsity enforcer flying headfirst into the glass. Even Plexiglas will shatter if hit with the right amount of force. And, it seems, Cole's flying tackle was just the right amount of force.

The fans who were unlucky enough to be hit by the now-concussd Varsity player, were actually still cheering, more upset about the interruption of the game and the blocking of their view than by being hit by the runaway train. Trying once, unsuccessfully, to get up, Cole stayed down until a medical team came and lifted him onto a stretcher.

"Now _that_'s clearing the garbage," Fulton said, slapping his friend's shoulder cheerfully.

"Hey, man, we're just getting warmed up!" Portman replied enthusiastically.

Oh, yes, in this case, Dean Portman could fully be considered a miracle. They were skating better, avoiding cheap shots, and throwing more weight around than they'd thought they had.

Still, renewed spirit went only so far. As Portman was suddenly thrown into the penalty box for 'hooking' Riley, the extra energy they'd burned began to tell on them. "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak," Maurae muttered. Averman, the only one who heard her over the noise of protest, looked at her strangely.

"Since when are you given to quoting Scripture?" he asked.

"That was Scripture?" Maurae retorted. "My grandma says it all the time when she wants to do something, but her body can't keep up with her."

"Yeah, Ro, that's Scripture. Can't tell you exactly what until I get back to my room, but it's Scripture. True, in this case." Maurae only shook her head at her friend.

"Full of surprises, that one," she murmured to herself.

Turning her attention back to the game, she jumped when the whistle blew. "Too many men, ref!" shouted Coach Wilson. "Too many men!" Blinking, she did a head count. True enough, there was one too many players on the ice.

"All right, all right. Luis! Luis, back to the bench! Wu, go to the box!" Blinking, she shivered.

'We're going to lose!' she wailed silently. Now Varsity had a power play, five on three. After Ken went to the box, throwing a disappointed fit, she wasn't the only one who could see their doom approaching. 'Oh, God! Riley's never going to let us hear the end of this!'

Still, even with the power play, no one managed to score. At last, with only a minute or so left, Orion called a time out to rearrange players one last time. Having not played most of the game, but still in possession of one massive headache, despite the drugs, Maurae crossed her fingers that Orion would stick someone else in. There were lots to choose from, after all.

"All right," he said, concluding his short speech. "I want Conway, Banks…and Goldberg. We're going with you."

Everyone looked at the stunned once-goalie, who looked panicked. "M-me, Coach?"

"You, Goldberg. You've earned your spot out there." They put their hands in enthusiastically, and those three on the ice started climbing into the box so those three going onto the ice could get out.

"Come on in, Guy," Charlie said, holding the gate open for his friend, who grinned wearily at him. Orion stopped Charlie before he could leave.

"We hold them for a minute, and we've got ourselves a tie," he remarked casually, as though merely observing.

Confused, Charlie nodded. "We're up to it, Coach."

"I know you are…but you deserve the win." Charlie's eyes brightened slightly. "Don't be careless, but don't be too careful, either." He took something form his pocket and slapped it onto Charlie's jersey. Intrigued, the captain-in-all-but-name looked down. When he looked up again, his grin could have lit the rink. "Go get 'em, Captain," Orion added, squeezing his shoulder.

Nodding, Charlie pulled on his helmet and leapt onto the ice, landing in motion. Facing off against Riley, he almost went down as Riley brutally battered him aside. Everyone was on the edge of their seats as Adam took a dive towards the puck, trying to slow Riley. He managed it, enough to give Charlie time to catch up and get in front of the Varsity captain.

In the box, everyone was, figuratively, biting their nails. "Make him make the first move, Conway…" Orion moaned, clenching his fists and his teeth. The suspense was almost painful. Then Riley darted forward, Charlie crouched, and Riley was suddenly flying through the air. "That's what I'm talking about!" Orion shouted. Charlie, with the puck, took off down the ice with Goldberg hot on his heels, Adam serving as a distraction for three of the five Varsity players scrambling towards his captain.

Still, it was gut-wrenching, watching Charlie and Goldberg skate in almost slow motion. Charlie reared back to shoot and Scooter dove for the aimed-at spot, falling heavily as the puck…sailed _backwards_ into Goldberg's possession. The shock felt by the team was nothing to that of the terrified former goalie as he looked at the puck in his possession to the two Varsity players getting to their feet to come after him, to the puck, to the goal…and he completely blanked.

Until, "SHOOT, GOLDBERG!" echoed through his mind. He did so, the puck sailing from his possession into the open net, as the two massive players collided with him and both buzzers went off. The goal buzzer and the time buzzer. Simultaneously. Goldberg shot to his feet, his face a mask of expectation and horror. Charlie, joyfully throwing his helmet aside, collided with him, not hard enough to knock him down.

"Goldie, I knew you could do it!" Charlie exclaimed, grasping the chubby face.

"Don't you ever do that to me again," Goldberg deadpanned.

"You did it! You scored! We won!" At this last shout, Charlie threw his hands up. With a joyful crash, the rest of the team, including the two in the penalty box, joined their celebration.

Fulton collided with Portman first, which was fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on who you asked), because as soon as Adam had touched Maurae's shoulder, she spun and threw her arms around him, eagerly pressing her lips against his in a breathless kiss that she meant.

For a moment, the roar of celebration faded as they kissed for real, for the first time, deliberately. Then they broke apart, and neither could help grinning. "We won!" she suddenly shouted, latching onto his ribs again. Adam grinned silently, and hugged her, the smile on his face telling anyone who cared to look, that he could die right now and do it happily.

Charlie grinned and skated over to Averman, who was cheering his head off. He punched him in the shoulder and held out an expectant hand. "You owe me twenty bucks," he said cheerfully. Averman grinned, grabbed Charlie around the neck, and squeezed. Then he skated away. Looking up, Charlie spotted his mother, and skated over.

"I'm proud of you, Charlie!" she cheered.

"I love you, Mom," he replied. She kissed his sweaty cheek.

"Go have fun!" Then she faded into the crowd. Charlie sneered and shook his head at Luis, who was oblivious to the world around him as he made out with Riley's cheerleader girlfriend. Then he felt another pair of lips collide with his cheek. He snapped his head around.

"Charlie," Linda said, brown eyes glittering. "Thank you."

He nodded and leaned down slightly to capture her lips in a real kiss. Watching him, his two best friends traded grins. "So," Maurae said to Adam, who still had an arm around her waist. "I think Jesse owes us both money."

"I would say so," he replied, resting his cheek on her sweaty hair. She grinned and hugged him one-armed.

"We don't have to figure this out right now, do we?" she asked in a sigh. He grinned and lifted his head.

"It can wait at least until after we eat," he replied cheerfully. A flash of movement caught his eye and he turned, just as Charlie shouted and pointed. They all turned to look, and grins covered their faces.

"Well…I'll be damned," Orion said. The Eden Hall Warriors logo had been covered with a new banner, proclaiming to the world the new Eden Hall logo.

"Russ was right," Averman chuckled, throwing his arm around said boy's shoulders. "After we beat them, the Warriors die, and the Ducks fly."

A resounding cheer went up from them all. It was a good day to be alive.

* * *

**AN:**I have decided...not to end it here. I may continue the story through the end of the Homecoming chapters. If I continue it after, I may post it under a new fic entirely, like a sequel. I might not, though. Maybe 66 chapters of this would be good for me. I do have other stories that I want to update, so we'll just have to see. After finals, I may have more time to play around with my characters.  
Again, Emily, I'm telling you, the characters are in control of the story now. The angst you see in the figure of Portman is beyond by control (yeah, like _anyone_ could control him!)  
Love to all my reviewers! Happy Thanksgiving (even if it is a little late!)! 


	38. Afterglow

"Afterglow"

It took an hour for them all to finish their showers, change, and pile into three cars to get to the pizza parlor owned by the Halls. Jesse had left the game when it ended, so they had a massive table loaded down with pizza ready and waiting when they arrived. The parlor had been closed for the party, and everybody was in a celebratory mood (I wonder why?).

Maurae and Adam hadn't released each other's hands since they'd finished changing, something Jesse was quick to take notice of when they arrived. "So…" he said, amused.

"You owe us money, Jess. I _told_ you Charlie was going to kiss her before Homecoming," Maurae replied, letting go of Adam to hug her friend and kiss his cheek. "Speaking of Homecoming, what are you doing tomorrow night?"

"Not going, if that's what you're asking," Jesse said, crossing his arms stubbornly.

"You know you want to," she wheedled. Casting a look at Adam, she raised her eyebrows, letting him know she wasn't giving up until he'd agreed to go, so this could take a while. He smiled and went to join Charlie and Averman, who were still gratifying Goldberg with their verbal replays of his game-winning shot.

"Ro, look, we've been through this. I don't want to go to your preppy school, not even for a dance. I came to the game. Isn't that enough?"

"Jess…we miss you. I miss you, Adam misses you…Charlie misses you the most. What could it hurt for you to come to Homecoming with us, to be a whole team again like we used to be? Are you afraid you might like it so much that you end up wanting to rejoin the team? What?"

"Look, Ro, I like my school, and I like going out for other sports. Hockey isn't everything, you know."

"Are you trying to convince me, or yourself?" she asked gently. "Jess, I know that hockey isn't everything. But you're just afraid, I think. Afraid that if you do come back, that things will be different, and you'll be left out. What was it that you always told me? That once you're a Duck, you're a Duck for life? You don't have to play hockey to be with the team, Jess. Eden Hall _has_ other sports, if that's what you really want. I think you should consider coming back, though. Since we've beaten the Varsity, things are going to get better and better."

"I thought this was about homecoming," Jesse replied weakly. She smiled. She had him now, and she knew it. Better still, he knew it. He sighed and gave up. "All right! All right, I'll come. Are you happy?"

"Very," she said, kissing his cheek. "Now, being the gossip-whore you are, I think you'll appreciate this tidbit. Not even Adam knows, so I'm trusting you to keep this to yourself…for a while."

He grinned and threw his arm around her shoulders, touching his forehead to hers conspiratorially. "Spill."

"Portman kissed me during the game," she whispered in his ear. Sure enough, chocolate eyes went wide with shock and he drew back, looking as though someone had hit him over the head with a brick.

"WHAT?" he squawked, loud enough to draw attention. She hissed at him and he dropped his voice. "What!" The whisper-shout was little better, but at least he wasn't broadcasting it anymore.

"Yup," she replied, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Whoa!" He wasn't sure whether to be amused or disgusted, so he settled for both. "You going to tell Adam?" he asked, lowering his voice further. She shook her head, then paused for a moment, and shrugged.

"Dunno. What's to tell? It's not like I reacted or anything."

"You liked it!" Jesse accused.

"So sue me for liking kisses!" she retorted.

He stared at her for a moment before he burst out laughing. "If you could hear how ridiculous that sounded!" he chuckled. She smirked and shook her head at him before shooting Adam a thumbs-up and walking over to sit down and grab a slice of pizza.

"Carrie owes me shoes," she said simply when he lifted an eyebrow.

"Sweet!" he said, leaving Charlie, Averman, and Goldberg in the dark. Then he took pity on them. "She convinced Jess to come to the dance tomorrow night."

"Ooohh…Okay, then," Charlie said, stuffing his mouth so full of pizza, not a sound came out of his mouth around it.

"Such a guy," Maurae muttered under her breath. Charlie grinned and nodded, making her shake her head. They all laughed. It really _was_ a good day to be alive.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

The euphoria from their victory lasted late into the night. They left the Halls' place a little after midnight, and made their way back to the school, where they were on weekend curfew (one a.m.) so they wouldn't get into trouble. Heading back to their rooms, they slowly disappeared into them. Charlie and Fulton slapped palms again before Charlie entered his and Adam's shared room. Adam kissed Maurae one more time before following with a cheerful, if tired wave. Fulton shook his head at Portman's stubborn scowl and vanished. Maurae dug in her pocket for her keys and, finding them, got the door unlocked before he stopped her.

"Hey!" she exclaimed quietly. "I thought you were gone already. Are you sleeping in there tonight, or waiting until you get your stuff moved in tomorrow?"

"Tonight. My stuff isn't here yet, and I have nowhere else to go."

"Cool. Goodnight. See you tomorrow." She turned, but he stopped her again.

"Hey, Ro?"

"Yeah?" she asked, trying not to heave a sigh of exasperation.

"When I kissed you earlier…um…well, see, I was…I mean, I didn't…"

"Dean, you don't sound normal. Is it bothering you? Look, I didn't mind. It was no big deal, really. Don't worry about it, okay?"

He let out a deep breath, and smirked. "I knew you liked it."

She lifted one eyebrow. "Getting a little ahead of yourself, aren't you? I said no such thing. I merely said that it didn't bother me as much as it seems to bother you."

"You liked it."

"Jess accused me of the same thing," she said with a shrug. "I like _kissing_. It has nothing to do with…okay, that's stupid. It does have to do with you, but I didn't mean that I _like_ y-" He shut her up effectively by kissing her again. When he backed up and ducked into the room he'd be sharing with Fulton, she could only glare at the solid slab of wood between her foot and his ass. "Stupid, arrogant, jackass," she muttered. "Thinks just because I let him kiss me once that makes it all right for him to kiss me again." Growling under her breath, she shoved open her door and slammed it closed.

Carrie jumped off her bed, grinning. "So? How did the party go?"

"First, Jess is coming; you owe me shoes. Second, if I'm going shopping with you at nine, I'm going to bed. Third, if Dean Portman kisses me one more time, I'm going to kill him with my bare hands."

"Dean Portman…he's the gorilla-man, right? The one who was giving a striptease in the penalty box? The loud one who showed up halfway through the game?"

"Yeah," Maurae huffed, dropping onto her bed in a show of how tired she actually was. Celebratory mood or not, she had taken quite a hit to her head during the game. The adrenaline and euphoria had pushed it away for a while, but it had started creeping back about an hour before. "And fourth, this headache is turning into a killer."

"I saw you. Don't you know that's what goalies are for?"

"Ha ha ha. Oh yeah, and ha. You and Adam, I swear…"

"Speaking of Adam…" Carrie prompted. Maurae shot her a glare, which quickly dissolved into a grin.

"I kissed him. Or he kissed me. I don't really know who started it, but we kissed. I suppose you saw that as well?"

"I did. Derek _and _Teresa owe me money now, so we'll be able to accessorize tomorrow."

Maurae growled at her and turned off the over head light, muttering under her breath about people who needed to get lives of their own. Carrie shook her head and let her roommate grumble as she changed for bed and crawled under the covers. Turning off her desk lamp, Maurae rolled over to face the wall, closed her eyes and fell almost instantly asleep.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Huh! Whozzair!" Maurae jolted out of bed the next morning when someone knocked vigorously on the door. Carrie, sitting on her own bed, fully dressed and reading a book, smirked and got up to answer it.

"Connie, Julie," she announced for Maurae's benefit.

"Huh? What're you guys doing here?" She glanced groggily at the clock. "At seven-thirty?"

"Carrie said you didn't have a Homecoming dress for tonight and that she was going to take you shopping. We volunteered to come with," Julie replied, plopping down on the end of Carrie's bed. Connie dropped onto the end of Maurae's bed, forcing her to move her feet.

"Yeah, we don't get enough girl time, hanging around this bunch anyways," Connie added with a shrug. She smacked Maurae's knee through the blanket. "So get up! Get dressed, we're going shopping."

"Whoopee," Maurae muttered as she grudgingly did as she was told. "S'seven-thirty, though. Counnent you wait till nine?"

"No. Now," Carrie said.

"Stores don't even open until eight, anyway."

"Enough deliberation, Maurae Nicole. Get your ass out of bed!" Carrie said, shoving Maurae towards the bathroom. Grumbling, the yawning brunette stumbled in and shut the door. As soon as they heard the lock click, the three girls in the room shared a laugh.

"Give her twenty minutes, then go in after her. She has been known to fall asleep in the shower," Julie chuckled.

"You know that shopping for homecoming with her, much less for her, is going to be like pulling teeth, right?" Connie asked. "Trust me on this, unless she's the mastermind behind the shopping trip, she'll make it hell."

"Yeah, well, she's psyched about this dance. Don't worry. She'll be good today," Carrie grinned. "Besides, I bribed her."

"How on earth did you get her to agree to a day of shopping?" Julie asked, curious how to get her friend to shop peacefully in future.

With a grin worthy of the Cheshire cat, Carrie winked. "I told her we'd hit up Borders on the way back here to get ready." Connie and Julie, who had been on the edge of their seats, waiting for this profound insight into Maurae's mentality, laughed. Everyone knew how much Ro liked books. And how much more she loved bookstores.

Five minutes after she went into the bathroom, Maurae came out again, toothbrush in her mouth. "Forgot my clothes," she muttered around the toothbrush and foam. Sheepishly, she gathered up jeans and the first shirt she found, then retreated again to the bathroom. They heard her spit and then the shower started.

As much as Carrie and Julie and Connie had interacted so far, they didn't really know each other, so it was a quiet twenty minutes until the water stopped running. Five minutes after that, Maurae came out, this time running a comb through her long wet hair.

"Let it dry itself," Carrie said. "I'll curl it better later. We'll put some of it up and leave most of it down…let me think about it a little more. Hurry up!"

"Calm down. It's only eight. We've got twelve hours."

"No, we've got six hours."

"It doesn't take six hours to get ready!" Maurae protested.

"No, it won't, but the dance starts at eight, and dinner starts at five. And we need three hours to get all of us ready. So stop arguing and put some shoes on!"

"Fine!" Maurae finished combing out her hair and then put the comb down to pull on her socks and shoes. "Where are we going first?"

"Penney's. It's where I got my dress, and they're bound to have _some_ left for slackers like you."

The barb didn't even register in the still-sleepy girl's mind. "Cool. Whatever. Who's driving?"

"My sister. You met Andi when we moved in, remember, Rae?"

"Pretty redhead with a great smile? Cheerful, friendly girl. I still don't believe she's related to you," Maurae said blandly. Julie and Connie, more used to this bland, dry sense of humor, laughed first, before Carrie even realized the insult. Then the redhead propped her hands on her hips and glared silently at her roommate. "Oh, breathe, Carrie." Smirking, and acting much more awake than she actually was, she grabbed a sweatshirt and her wallet and skipped out of the room.

She had recently acquired (read: stolen) a chain for her wallet, from Carrie. She had a bad habit of losing things like her wallet, her keys, her cell phone. Which, actually, she had misplaced the night before. "Remind me to call Jess when we get back to see if I left my phone at the table last night," she said idly as the others caught up to her.

"Lost it again, have you?" Carrie asked. "Good thing you stole my chain, or you'd have lost your wallet too."

"Yes, I know I'm hopeless," she sighed melodramatically. "No need to rub it in."

"But rubbing it in is so fun!" Carrie pouted, trying hard not to smile. "Okay, in all seriousness, I know you don't like shopping, so I'm going to play this last card. The less time we spend shopping for a dress and shoes and accessories for you, the more time we can spend hanging out in the bookstore."

"That's not fair, Carrie!"

"Life isn't fair, princess," Carrie shot back, then danced ahead, hiding behind her sister, waiting by her car.

"Yeah, nice to see you too, little sister." This was obviously an old joke, since Andrea, who was four years older than Carrie, was also a foot shorter. "Maurae, nice to see you again."

"Hi, Andrea. These are two of my teammates, Connie Moreau and Julie Gaffney. Connie, Jules, this is Carrie's sister, Andrea Martin." The three girls shook hands and then Andrea ushered them all into the waiting car. There was just enough room for the three hockey players in the back seat, and even so, by the time they got to the mall, the three girls were all too eager to get out.

"I'm going to see a movie with some friends, and then to lunch, so I'll meet you guys in front of the food court bathrooms in four hours. We'll see if you need longer then." She smirked. "Do any of you fine athletes have a watch?"

Connie nodded, and Carrie waved her hand. "And I have my cell phone," Julie said. "So between the three of us, we're all set."

Maurae didn't bother to respond to the subtle dig, and grinned. "Oh goody. Four hours of letting them use me as a dress-up doll."

"One thing I can guarantee you about my sister," Andrea said with a wink. "Is that her taste in clothes is perfect. She'll have you looking like a princess in no time."

"If that was supposed to be comforting, it wasn't," Maurae grumbled. "But thanks just the same."

"Come _on_, Rae," Connie said, grabbing her arm and dragging her away. Andrea was left laughing uproariously as she walked towards the movie theater.

* * *

**AN: **Yes, I know I've been gone a looooooong time. This time, however, it was not my fault. My internet is not cooperative, and I have had no connection since the beginning of December. For this, though, I've had plenty of time to work on this story, so I've gotthis chapter ready for you, and asecond uploading (my harddrive was erased and wasn't it smart of me to have backed everything up on disc!), and a thirdwell on the way. Love to you all; hope you like it! 


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